The apology comes after Apple admitted to slowing down the iPhone 6, 6S, 7 and SE, when their batteries are old, cold or undercharged, to avoid abrupt shutdowns. So, yes, Apple is slowing down your old iPhone, but the reason isn't as nefarious as it seems on paper. You're more likely to upgrade to an iPhone X or to replace the battery, something we're sure Apple loves and your wallet hates. We've now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2 and plan to add support for other products in the future.
Apple explains on its support site that, when the lithium-ion batteries in iPhones “chemically age”, their ability to deliver maximum instant performance, or “peak power”, can decrease. Apple's statement was based on the results of a Geekbench report that showed a degrading performance pattern on iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 models with more recent software updates.
