Apple has announced that its next software update to iOS 11, version 11.3, will include a toggle for disabling processor throttling and slowed performance in iPhones that contain older, chemically-aged batteries. CEO Tim Cook hinted that iPhone users would have more control over their phone’s battery life in an interview last week.
The company says iOS 11.3 will be available in the spring, and that an initial beta launch is available today. However, the battery features haven’t yet been implemented. Once they’re added, Apple says users will be able to “see if the power management feature that dynamically manages maximum performance to prevent unexpected shutdowns, first introduced in iOS 10.2.1, is on and can choose to turn it off.” The update also shows more detailed information on battery health for the iPhone 6 and later.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Other updates in iOS 11.3 include expanded ARKit capabilities, four new Animoji characters on iPhone X and music videos in Apple Music. Apple has also outlined some smaller new additions like Business Chat, which lets you communicate with a business directly from Messages (without sharing your contact details) and a Health Records section in the Health app.
The battery update comes after Apple was criticized late last year for acknowledging that it was using software updates to slow down batteries in an effort to prevent them from shutting off suddenly.
“We’re going to give people the visibility of the health of their battery so it’s very, very transparent. This hasn’t been done before,” Cook told ABC News last week. “We will tell somebody ‘We’re slightly reducing your performance by some amount in order to not have an unexpected restart.’ And if you don’t want it, you can turn it off.”
The firm still faces several lawsuits from customers in states including California, New York and Illinois, as well as customers in Israel and France.
In response, Apple issued a public apology and reduced its fee for battery replacement from $79 to $29.
The announcement of the new iOS update comes hot on the heels of the news that Apple is reportedly going to shut down production of current iPhone X models in exchange for two newer models.
Apple’s next-gen iPhone lineup will feature two brand new versions of the iPhone X with edgeless displays, one being a 6.5-inch iPhone with an OLED display and the other being a 6.1-inch iPhone with an LCD display. Both devices will feature edge to edge displays and will utilize Face ID for user authentication as opposed to Touch ID.
The current 5.8-inch iPhone X, meanwhile, would be discontinued.
“KGI also expects a trio of iPhone models in the fall of 2018,” AppleInsider notes. “He predicts the iPhone X will be ‘end of life’ in the summer of 2018, instead of being retained as a lower-cost option in the following year.”
If the projection pans out, it would mark a change in a decades-old strategy from Apple, in which it keeps older versions of iPhones around as a more wallet-friendly version of the newest option — which would lead one to believe that iPhone X with the 6.1-inch display would become the cheaper option.
