Is Apple's Update To Ios 11.2 A Good Thing To Do For Iphone 6s

Apple tree recently released the iOS 11.2.2 update, which is a dedicated security fix designed to address the Spectre and Meltdown CPU flaws. This has a small touch on on operation on PCs, merely volition information technology slow down your iPhone, too? Nosotros benchmarked several models of iPhones to find out. The curt answer? Your iPhone probably won't ho-hum downwards as much every bit y'all fearfulness.

How Nosotros Performed Our Benchmarks

RELATED: How Volition the Meltdown and Spectre Flaws Touch on My PC?

After the update dropped this week, tech developer Melvin Mughal tested his iPhone 6 before and later updating to iOS 11.ii.2 and wrote up the results. Afterward Mughal'due south tests, he wrote that:

All numbers signal to the same conclusion: it took a serious hitting in functioning at every possible level. A lot of benchmark levels show a pregnant decrease in performance on the iPhone 6 up to 50% on some benchmark levels.

Forbes so reported on Mughal'due south results, citing a few tweets from users claiming that they also noticed slowdowns.

We ran benchmarks on our own phones, yet, and could non replicate Mughal's results. It's probable that iPhones are simply not equally affected as Mughal originally claimed. Fifty-fifty one of the users cited by Forbes noted that after running the benchmark again, his numbers showed no performance decrease. Another showed much, much smaller operation decreases, more than in line with what we'd expect based on what nosotros've seen on PCs.

Nosotros used Geekbench 4 to run our benchmarks. Information technology performs a number of CPU-related tests to measure both single-core and multi-core functioning levels. To run our tests, nosotros fabricated certain no apps were running (even in the background). We ran the aforementioned test correct earlier and right afterward updating to 11.ii.2.

We ran these same tests on an iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus, and we looked upward some of Geekbench's public iPhone six benchmarks every bit well. Here's what nosotros plant.

What We Found

In short, nosotros constitute that none of our phones slowed downward well-nigh as much equally Mughal's iPhone half-dozen. Nosotros too did non find evidence of like slowdowns in the other iPhone 6 results we researched.

iPhone 6

We unfortunately did not take an iPhone 6 to test, merely since Geekbench lets users publicly mail their scores, nosotros did do a fleck of digging. Nosotros know an iPhone half dozen with a new battery should receive a unmarried core score of round 1600, and we institute a number of iPhone 6 scores from iOS 11.ii.two users that are only about in line with what we'd wait (here's 1 at 1555, 1 at 1525, and one at 1475). Those all show effectually a 10% decrease or less in performance.

At that place are, of grade, other scores that are lower, but it'due south hard to determine how many of those decreases are due to the update, and how many are due to low battery health (since Apple throttles phones with old batteries). The only way we tin truly know how much this update affects a given phone is with before-and-after benchmarks. Only since we know what a pre-update new-bombardment 6 should look like, nosotros can take the smaller 10% decreases at face value.

iPhone 6s

On the year-old iPhone 6s we tested (which does non have a new battery), we saw a similar performance hit our expectations for the iPhone 6:

Single-Core Score: 2000 before update and 1788 later—a 10.4% reduction in operation
Multi-Core Score: 3744 before update and 3166 afterward—a 17.v% reduction in performance
Full Results: Results for the iPhone 6s before the update and after the update

Other iPhone 6s scores we looked at did non evidence as much of a hit, so it's possible that others may see even improve functioning than us.

iPhone 7

Our iPhone vii showed very little reduction in performance, with the multi-cadre performance rising a bit:

Single-Core Score: 3517 before update and 3376 later—a four% reduction in performance
Multi-Core Score: 5907 earlier update and 6025 after—a 2% increase in operation
Full Results: Results for the iPhone 7 before the update and after the update

iPhone 8

Our iPhone eight showed barely any reduction in performance at all. In fact, the single-cadre score went up slightly.

Single-Cadre Score: 4240 earlier update and 4255 subsequently—a 0.35% increase in performance
Multi-Core Score: 10,300 before update and 10,254 subsequently—a 0.five% reduction in functioning
Full Results: Results for the iPhone 8 before the update and afterward the update

iPhone 8 Plus

Our iPhone 8 Plus also showed a negligible change in performance.

Single-Cadre Score: 4243 before update and 4246 afterwards—a 0.07% increment in performance
Multi-Cadre Score: x,438 before update and 10,232 after—a 1.7% reduction in performance
Full Results: Results for the iPhone 8 Plus before the update and after the update

We have not however had a chance to test an iPhone 6, simply we will update this post when we do.

As you tin see from the above results, even so, our results show that the performance hit from upgrading to 11.two.two is not nearly and then big as indicated by Mughal'due south results with his iPhone vi. Our results do show that that newer phones suffer a milder performance driblet than older phones, which we know is happening with desktop PCs equally well. But we were not able to replicate anything close to what Mughal saw. And given that other users have seen good results subsequently running the benchmark a second fourth dimension, we're guessing there are confounding variables for users claiming a massive slowdown.

All this makes sense, because the 11.2.ii update is really designed to mitigate exploit techniques that touch Safari and other apps that use the WebKit API to brandish web pages. In Apple'south ain support article about these vulnerabilities, they speak to their own benchmark results:

On Jan 8th Apple released updates for Safari on macOS and iOS to mitigate these exploit techniques. Our current testing indicates that the Safari mitigations accept no measurable impact on the Speedometer and ARES-6 tests and an touch of less than 2.v% on the JetStream benchmark.

Of course, these may not be the terminal updates Apple tree pushes out for iOS to deal with these vulnerabilities, so nosotros'll keep this article updated with futurity developments.

How to Test Your iPhone

Of course, the best way to find out how your phone will perform is to run benchmarks yourself. To run these same tests on your iPhone, y'all'll need purchase a 99 cent app named Geekbench. Before you update to 11.two.two, start the app, choose the "CPU" selection, and so tap the "Run Benchmark" link.

You'll get a results screen similar this:

Update your iPhone to eleven.2.2, and then run the aforementioned criterion once more. You tin click the "History" tab at the bottom of the Geekbench screen to compare your results, and you lot tin can also upload results to the Geekbench site. (Remember, though: if you encounter a slowdown, try rebooting your telephone or waiting a while and running the benchmark once more. Information technology's possible it was slow for reasons other than the Spectre mitigation patch.)

No Matter What, You Should Update to 11.two.2

Our results show that you probably don't worry so much well-nigh slower performance when upgrading to eleven.2.2. Only no thing what you detect, or what other users find as this story develops, yous should definitely install the update. This is an of import patch, as it addresses major security flaws, then it's worth a piffling chip of a functioning reduction, if that reduction exists.

RELATED: Yous Can Speed Up Your Slow iPhone by Replacing the Bombardment

Also, if y'all find that your iPhone shows much lower benchmark scores than you lot expect (or has just been feeling slow in general), you lot may exist able to speed upwardly your iPhone by replacing the battery. Apple is currently offering battery replacements for a mere $29, so if your iPhone is more than a year or so old, information technology'south a small price to pay for getting back that sweet sugariness speed.

Prototype Credit: Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock