Updating a smartphone is (almost) always a wise decision: it allows us to enjoy the latest news, fixes software bugs and installs security patches. Yes, that is the theory and general recommendation. However, as our iPhone adds years behind it, sometimes we have to think twice before pressing the update button because although we won the above (or part), there is also fine print: These are the reasons why you shouldn’t update an old iPhone.
The battery may last less
In general, updating an old iPhone with new software involves more work for components, including the processor and battery, which translates into higher power consumption. It is true that on the one hand one of the software design goals is to improve energy efficiency, which implies doing more with less; but on the other, the applications are also increasingly demanding.
If we also take into account that lithium ion batteries are a component that degrades with use and the passage of time, so it no longer has the capacity to start, as a result it is highly probable that autonomy is less per se and that the update contributes to expedite the process. In fact, if your phone already has a significantly deteriorated battery (health below 80%, it is advisable to change it).
You will not have all the latest news
The first one in the forehead: You see the most innovative features in Apple Keynote and you get long teeth, but then you install the latest version and discover that they do not appear on your phone. It’s a matter of hardware (they may lack the elements that enable the function) and compatibility issues.
New features and new bugs
When Apple releases a new operating system, as with other OS and devices, they also include new issues that can tarnish your experience. We are talking about bugs that have survived the test versions and that over time will be corrected once the pertinent patches are detected and released, because the reality is that an update fixes some bugs and introduces others.
Applications that close, battery problems, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth drops, cameras that stay frozen… are some of the most recent detected. That is why it is worth waiting a bit, until other people (early adopters) try it and there is room for debugging.
What about performance?
In 2017 Apple confirmed that it slowed down the iPhone to extend battery life, which is known as throttling, and it did so without informing its users. As a result, when updating, the performance of apple phones dropped noticeably. It has not been the only brand to do so. As a result, some view updates with suspicion.
Throttling conspiracies aside, new operating system updates are made for the latest hardware, so they don’t work as well on older devices. We have already seen in the previous point that the newer operating systems, despite optimizing their operation, will consume more resources… but your phone is the same as it was a couple of years ago.
The truth is that new software works better with new hardwareFirst, because newer phones are likely to have a more current configuration (such as RAM), and second, because there are software elements designed to work with newer hardware features.
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