iPhone iPhone 7 performance slowed down

[Appletechguy69]

Hi guys

I’m new here and wanted to ask if anybody is having the same issue as me
After 3 months my iPhone 7 seems to have lost performance I noticed this while playing pubg mobile so I tried to benchmark and see and I was surprised to find out the score went down to 162K when it was about 202K 3 months earlier
Is this normal guys ??
Édit : battery health is at 96% performance management disabled / I used Antutu benchmark

 

[Shirasaki]

Try other benchmark software like Geekbench. Antutu mark can be affected by multiple factors.
Also, how’s the degraded performance go? Serious frame rate drop?

 

[Appletechguy69]

Try other benchmark software like Geekbench. Antutu mark can be affected by multiple factors.
Also, how’s the degraded performance go? Serious frame rate drop?

Yes a very serious drop in frames , I mean my phone used to handle hdr with high fps and the game was flawless and fluid but now It can barely run it on smooth / ultra framerates

 

[Der Keyser]

You are starting to feel the obsolescense older phones suffer with new IOS builds as Apple avoids optimizing the code for older hardware - they indirectly “slow” down older phones using this philosophy. The iPhone 7 is getting seriously hit with the last IOS 12.x builds.

Generally IOS detects all attempt to benchmark the phone by evaluating the workload it is given, and allows for full speed during the bench. All the well known benckmark programs are whitelisted so they never fail the automatic sensing proces. But using a benchprogram not on the whiteliste will sometimes fall through the “bench sensing” in IOS and show the actual state of general performance on your phone. That’s what you have accidentally stumbled upon.

 

[Shirasaki]

You are starting to feel the obsolescense older phones suffer with new IOS builds as Apple avoids optimizing the code for older hardware - they indirectly “slow” down older phones using this philosophy. The iPhone 7 is getting seriously hit with the last IOS 12.x builds.

Generally IOS detects all attempt to benchmark the phone by evaluating the workload it is given, and allows for full speed during the bench. All the well known benckmark programs are whitelisted so they never fail the automatic sensing proces. But using a benchprogram not on the whiteliste will sometimes fall through the “bench sensing” in IOS and show the actual state of general performance on your phone. That’s what you have accidentally stumbled upon.

Hmm. What about including more of such programs that shows true iOS performance instead of an artificial one. Cause that’d be nice to have.

 

[Der Keyser]

Hmm. What about including more of such programs that shows true iOS performance instead of an artificial one. Cause that’d be nice to have.

Well we can’t, because generally iOS senses the workload of benchmarking correct, and that will suspend any unnescessary background activity that will impact the result - so it will be hit’n miss. But in reality the issue is not really “background activity”, but rather API calls and lower level procedures in the software development framework that is no longer perfectly optimized to give optimal performance on older hardware. Essentially is uses more code/waittime to solve the same problem than in ealier builds. All because the software is expanded with increasingly more features and functionality support. This makes thing runs at about “same” speed on newer hardware, but older hardware takes a performance penalty because of this.

Whether this is intentional from Apple is frequently discussed (called planned obsolescense), and I believe Apple more or less stopped doing it directly and very intentional after the battery scandal on iPhone 6. IOS 12 and the “magical” perfromance it gave to older devices was actually just Apple removing the most obvious of their intentional “planned obsolescense” code. It still happens though, but it’s probably not as intentional as it used to be - now its more related to additional code that needs processing because of more features.

 

[aakshey]

What I don't understand is why they don't do it to the Mac.

I know for sure they plan to destroy older devices with iOS updates. But the same can't be said about the Mac.

What do you think?

 

[Der Keyser]

Well, no-one but Apple knows for sure...
But I’m pretty sure the problem with a Mac (and a PC), is that the hardware these days is really really capable and the OS’s are very very mature. So the amount of change/added code to the basic system between each release is very small and it runs on very powerfull hardware - so it makes very little impact. And adding code on a level that intentionally and very noticably slows down a Mac would be a big gamble, because unlike the iOS walled Garden, MacOS is somewhat more open to users running tools and utilities that can expose this problem/code. I think the risk of getting caught is just too big for Apple to do it on the Mac. On iOS there is no such problem as it’s a 100% Apple controlled ecosystem and app (utilities and tools) landscape - and yet they got caught with the battery scandal.....
That made them release iOS12 with more than just the slowdown code from the battery situation removed - iOS 12 was initially a lot faster on older devices, so most of their obsolescense code was probably removed - to make amends....
[doublepost=1558095460][/doublepost]Besides... With the assistance of Intel, the slowdown to Mac’s (and PC’s) now comes in the form of mitigation to the attackvectors the CPU gave (meltdown, spectre and so on). Just wait till you see the impact of the mitigation to the latest batch of exploits - that will take a noticable chuck of performance from your Mac

If Apple’s longterm strategy was based on MacOS and not iOS, I bet you Apple would change to either AMD (to stay on x64) or their own ARM CPU’s pretty soon. But I’m pretty sure MacOS is destined for a slow death as Apple is betting on iOS (That’s where the money and the really controlled garden is). Maybe that stops them from doing the investment needed in porting MacOS to ARM.

 

[I7guy]

You are starting to feel the obsolescense older phones suffer with new IOS builds as Apple avoids optimizing the code for older hardware - they indirectly “slow” down older phones using this philosophy. The iPhone 7 is getting seriously hit with the last IOS 12.x builds.

Generally IOS detects all attempt to benchmark the phone by evaluating the workload it is given, and allows for full speed during the bench. All the well known benckmark programs are whitelisted so they never fail the automatic sensing proces. But using a benchprogram not on the whiteliste will sometimes fall through the “bench sensing” in IOS and show the actual state of general performance on your phone. That’s what you have accidentally stumbled upon.

1. Do you have any citations at all to back up what you saying. Being “well known” doesn’t constitute a sold fact.
2. The op didn’t say new software was installed. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t.

However the way op phrased it, it seemed to occur suddenly and potentially have nothing to do with software.
[doublepost=1558097361][/doublepost]

Well, no-one but Apple knows for sure...
But I’m pretty sure the problem with a Mac (and a PC), is that the hardware these days is really really capable and the OS’s are very very mature. So the amount of change/added code to the basic system between each release is very small and it runs on very powerfull hardware - so it makes very little impact. And adding code on a level that intentionally and very noticably slows down a Mac would be a big gamble, because unlike the iOS walled Garden, MacOS is somewhat more open to users running tools and utilities that can expose this problem/code. I think the risk of getting caught is just too big for Apple to do it on the Mac. On iOS there is no such problem as it’s a 100% Apple controlled ecosystem and app (utilities and tools) landscape - and yet they got caught with the battery scandal.....
That made them release iOS12 with more than just the slowdown code from the battery situation removed - iOS 12 was initially a lot faster on older devices, so most of their obsolescense code was probably removed - to make amends....
[doublepost=1558095460][/doublepost]Besides... With the assistance of Intel, the slowdown to Mac’s (and PC’s) now comes in the form of mitigation to the attackvectors the CPU gave (meltdown, spectre and so on). Just wait till you see the impact of the mitigation to the latest batch of exploits - that will take a noticable chuck of performance from your Mac

If Apple’s longterm strategy was based on MacOS and not iOS, I bet you Apple would change to either AMD (to stay on x64) or their own ARM CPU’s pretty soon. But I’m pretty sure MacOS is destined for a slow death as Apple is betting on iOS (That’s where the money and the really controlled garden is). Maybe that stops them from doing the investment needed in porting MacOS to ARM.

Conjectures are fun to discuss. Unless you have some solid proof to back up an opinion.

 

[Appletechguy69]

1. Do you have any citations at all to back up what you saying. Being “well known” doesn’t constitute a sold fact.
2. The op didn’t say new software was installed. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t.

However the way op phrased it, it seemed to occur suddenly and potentially have nothing to do with software.
[doublepost=1558097361][/doublepost]
Conjectures are fun to discuss. Unless you have some solid proof to back up an opinion.

This guy gets it , I never said I updated my iPhone , I didn’t .
The only thing I did since I bought my iPhone 7 was a restore from the phone itself , no update , same iOS
After that I reinstalled the game and was very surprised to see that it worked slower than before

I forgot to mention that I was jail broken before the restore and used a tweak to unlock the extreme FPS as the iPhone 7 only had ultra FPS , so is it possible that I have damaged the processeur doing so ?? I don’t know I’m really a newbie about this stuff....

 

[aakshey]

Antutu scores vary a lot.

To increase your score:

Ideally, let is rest for 30-60+ minutes or overnight before you run the test.

Close all apps.

Clear memory (not the same as closing all apps)

Restart your phone. No other apps should be open.

Doing one or more of the above is likely to increase your score adversely as well.

 

[Der Keyser]

1. Do you have any citations at all to back up what you saying. Being “well known” doesn’t constitute a sold fact.
2. The op didn’t say new software was installed. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn’t.

However the way op phrased it, it seemed to occur suddenly and potentially have nothing to do with software.
[doublepost=1558097361][/doublepost]
Conjectures are fun to discuss. Unless you have some solid proof to back up an opinion.

Oh yes, I agree. Like i wrote: Only Apple really knows

I know it won’t hold up in court, but everybody knows the symptoms of your phone/computer getting slower with age, and everybody felt the speedup of iOS 12, and saw the battery admittance Apple was forced to do.
The only people who never suffered a slow phone and had everything running smoothly and as fast as the day they bought it, are the Apple fanatics on this site. So yes, it is conjecture and circumstantial, but that does not make it wrong ;-)

I won’t discuss it any further with you from here, because IT IS only circumstantial - People can make up their own minds based on their own experience and everybody they know

 

[I7guy]

Oh yes, I agree. Like i wrote: Only Apple really knows

I know it won’t hold up in court, but everybody knows the symptoms of your phone/computer getting slower with age, and everybody felt the speedup of iOS 12, and saw the battery admittance Apple was forced to do.
The only people who never suffered a slow phone and had everything running smoothly and as fast as the day they bought it, are the Apple fanatics on this site. So yes, it is conjecture and circumstantial, but that does not make it wrong ;-)

I won’t discuss it any further with you from here, because IT IS only circumstantial - People can make up their own minds based on their own experience and everybody they know

The way the battery management was handled could have been better. However, it seemed some who were promulgating “planned obsolescence “ has to back-track when Apple offered $29 dollar battery’s and iOS 12 was deemed to be a performance/stability release.

So that it’s conjecture and circumstantial makes it: conjecture And circumstantial.

 

[gigapocket1]

This guy gets it , I never said I updated my iPhone , I didn’t .
The only thing I did since I bought my iPhone 7 was a restore from the phone itself , no update , same iOS
After that I reinstalled the game and was very surprised to see that it worked slower than before

I forgot to mention that I was jail broken before the restore and used a tweak to unlock the extreme FPS as the iPhone 7 only had ultra FPS , so is it possible that I have damaged the processeur doing so ?? I don’t know I’m really a newbie about this stuff....

Well.. that right there can be the problem.. you don’t really “erase” a jailbreak by doing a restore on the phone.. you have to do it thru iTunes to fully erase everything. I’m sure you have some lingering effects of the jailbreak on your system..

 

[cynics]

Planned obsolescence is a thing but its only because Apple is planning years in advance, like most business.

App devs are required to support devices on the latest version of iOS assuming the hardware is there API requirements. This becomes very difficult when you have an app that has recommended specs and minimum specs spanning across 6 generations of mobile hardware.

Apple does implement a lot of tools to help automate this process to help minimize development (different levels of texture mapping in games dependent on the GPU for example). But there is only so much that is possible while maintaining a reasonable level of functionality without holding new devices back. Imagine if programs for windows released today HAD to run on your PC you bought in 2013....those programs would likely be pretty terrible...

It benefits them for you to buy a new device however its just as beneficial for your current device to support their reoccurring services (iCloud, Apple Music, TV app) plus its good PR because its safe, comparatively speaking.

Think about it, Apple still supports the iPhone 5s with their latest version of iOS. That phone is going on 6 years old now but people still jump on 'planned obsolescence' hate train because its not as fast. Maybe I'm just techie but saying a computer from 6 years ago isn't as fast as it was on on 6 year newer software is so obvious that it shouldn't need to be said aloud.

I will concede that Apple pushes updates very hard which make your older devices slow but its a necessary evil with a modular OS like that to maintain a functional App Store. When they add a feature for memory management, cloud services, AirPlay API's Apple can't expect dev's to make a specific version of their app due to a different graphic API like Metal.

Their ecosystem requires WatchOS, tvOS, iOS, and MacOS to use the latest API's for compatibility as well.

Apple has even gone as far as updating obsolete OS's for major security flaws. Admittedly this is for their sake because its really bad PR to make a device obsolete and then everyone with it gets hacked.

Apples battery debacle is actually a good example of the lengths they've gone to keep devices relevant. When the hardware is capable of pulling more power out of the battery then its capable of delivering its a good sign that the device should be obsolete. Instead they made a way to limit performance so the device battery doesn't drop below its shut down threshold with a performance spike.

Business wise they can't advertise an "end of life" date or time span. If they did then half way through the products cycle sales would drop off as people waited for the next iteration.

Its really a damned if you do damned if you don't situation they are in. They win both ways but will get criticized for either.

 

[macfacts]

You are starting to feel the obsolescense older phones suffer with new IOS builds as Apple avoids optimizing the code for older hardware - they indirectly “slow” down older phones using this philosophy. The iPhone 7 is getting seriously hit with the last IOS 12.x builds.

Generally IOS detects all attempt to benchmark the phone by evaluating the workload it is given, and allows for full speed during the bench. All the well known benckmark programs are whitelisted so they never fail the automatic sensing proces. But using a benchprogram not on the whiteliste will sometimes fall through the “bench sensing” in IOS and show the actual state of general performance on your phone. That’s what you have accidentally stumbled upon.

Whitelist and bench sensing? Sounds like Volkswagen's disel-gate.

 

[Radon87000]

The way the battery management was handled could have been better. However, it seemed some who were promulgating “planned obsolescence “ has to back-track when Apple offered $29 dollar battery’s and iOS 12 was deemed to be a performance/stability release.

So that it’s conjecture and circumstantial makes it: conjecture And circumstantial.

No one backtracked. They offered $29 batteries and iOS 12 because they didn’t want to risk losing customer confidence in their products once it was found they were fooling people into buying new phones in iOS 11

And in my personal experience using 2 batteries those $29 batteries aren’t lasting as long as the usual $99 batteries in my experience. The battery health is depreciating faster.

 

[aakshey]

No one backtracked. They offered $29 batteries and iOS 12 because they didn’t want to risk losing customer confidence in their products once it was found they were fooling people into buying new phones in iOS 11

And in my personal experience using 2 batteries those $29 batteries aren’t lasting as long as the usual $99 batteries in my experience. The battery health is depreciating faster.

In Apple’s defence:

iPhone X

I bought my X on 19th April 2018. By mid Dec 2018 the battery health was around 97% on iOS and around 95-96% on iMazing. It had around 200-220 cycles or so.

B2X Ansal Plaza (New Delhi, India) (kudos to them) swapped my battery for FREE under AppleCare+. The new battery came around 103%. After around 170 cycles it shows around 99% average on both iMazing and iOS.

So technically it seems just as good as the one Apple originally shipped mine with.

My iPhone X was originally on iOS 12 when the battery got replaced. There wasn’t much increase in battery life with the new battery, if any. However, I feel subsequent iOS updates have degraded battery life further.

iPhone 7

My mom’s iPhone 7’s warranty (Extended AppleCare) expired around October 2018. After that she got a fresh battery from B2X Ansal Plaza (New Delhi, India) for USD 29 or so. The new one is at 99% as per iMazing and iOS both, after around 160 cycles. And it came with 99.5-100% or so.

The original battery was down to 87% or so when we got it replaced. As per iOS.

Her battery life improved greatly once she upgraded her battery. Not hugely. But noticeably. She was on iOS 12 both before and after the battery swap. Now her battery life is like 60-70% of what it was back in December 2018. Maybe even less than that.

iPhone SE

My dad got his SE’s battery swapped under Extended Apple Care while we were in London. His old battery was at 92%. This was in May 2018. The new one was from Whitefield London. Apple didn’t charge a penny for it.

That time iOS 11 was the latest. The battery swap didn’t make any difference to his battery life. Before and after he was on iOS 11 till iOS 12 released.

1 yr later, he is on iOS 12.3. He gets around 2-3 HRs SOT but I’m pretty sure his battery life is defective.

Although iOS shows 92% for his new battery, iMazing/Coconut show that his battery health varies from 65% to 80%+ and usually is in the 70’s.

Also, restarting his iPhone sometimes shows his battery percentage to be 1%. And then in a few seconds it jumps back. But if it was 90% before the restart, after the restart it could show 1% and then Juno straight to 85% and work normally from there.

Sometimes his iPhone also shuts down on its own. These are signs of a defective battery.

He already has 400+ cycles on his phone. But the reason for that is that his iPhone barely lasts 2 HRs SOT on a single charge. So he is forced to charge it so many times.

My dad used to get 5-7 HRs SOT on iOS 11.3 or so.

Another iPhone SE

Had the same defective symptoms as my dad’s new (and now defective) SE battery with around 800+ cycles with iOS showing health as 85% or so. Got it swapped at B2X Ansal Plaza, New Delhi, India for USD 29 or so. The battery life more than doubled overnight.

It was on iOS 12 before and after.
[doublepost=1558251970][/doublepost]In @Radon87000 ‘s defence, I do believe planned obscolence is real.

I have used many MI/Redmi android phones too (as secondary phones), as have others I know, and their battery/speed doesn’t decrease with updates. They receive updates every month or two as well. And even years later, the battery and speed is pretty much as good as new.

I do agree with him that as iOS 12 is progressing, overall, battery life seems to be going down except for devices from 2018 or later.

 

[I7guy]

No one backtracked. They offered $29 batteries and iOS 12 because they didn’t want to risk losing customer confidence in their products once it was found they were fooling people into buying new phones in iOS 11

And in my personal experience using 2 batteries those $29 batteries aren’t lasting as long as the usual $99 batteries in my experience. The battery health is depreciating faster.

You’re right, some didn’t “back-track” because some were flat out wrong about the “planned obsolescence” meme. In my opinion, “Most people” didn’t know or care about performance management, and the people who squawked the loudest were forum posters.

In my anecdotal experience with my old 5s, battery life based on my usage was very good with iOS 12.

 

[steve62388]

iOS senses the workload of benchmarking correct, and that will suspend any unnescessary background activity that will impact the result

...says absolutely no-one.

 

[aakshey]

...says absolutely no-one.

I have proof.

 

[steve62388]

I have proof.

Sure you do.

You better publish it quick then. Because with a massive story like this you could launch yourself into a highly paid career as a YouTube star or some such.

 

[aakshey]

Sure you do.

Yes. And it’s in the public domain. You just need to have the tools and intellect to figure it out.

 

[steve62388]

Yes. And it’s in the public domain. You just need to have the tools and intellect to figure it out.

Oh right... so you mean it’s crap and that’s why not a single major site has picked it up as a story because it would be huge.

 

[aakshey]

Oh right... so you mean it’s crap and that’s why not a single major site has picked it up as a story because it would be huge.

They probably haven’t measured it yet.

I have not seen that measurement technique mentioned anywhere. Anywhere.