The huge story is being circulated all around the major news outlets how Apple has admitted to the long-suspected practice of slowing down older model iPhones, purportedly to get longer runtime out of the aging batteries. Apple is being criticized left and right over this, from Wired pointing out all the ways they could've resolved the issues better, to Motherboard (Vice) pointing out the very relevant point about how this is a side-effect of Apple trailblazng the consumer-hostile practice of making batteries non-removable and non-replaceable. As is well known, lithium ion batteries wear out over time and after 2-3 years only hold a fraction of their original charge. As such, they are considered "consumables" and traditionally were trivial to replace and obtain... until Apple came to the scene. With the iPhone, Apple became the first phone manufacturer to make the battery sealed-in and not easily removable, which conveniently ensured a higher number of people simply tossing their old, otherwise adequate phones and buying new ones at a more frequent cycle. "Planned obsolesence" if you will. Once users got desensitized to this anti-consumer practice and somewhat accepting of it, other manufacturers realized they could get away with it as well and we now see the same behavior from the likes of Samsung and other companies all too eager to force consumers to spend more money than they need to since Apple made it permissible.  Even the widespread, mainstream podcast Marketplace talks about it as topic #1 in their 12/22/2017 edition. It is good that this is getting signifciant attention, to the point where there is now a lawsuite being filed against Apple.

This practice was so lucrative for Apple that they've since carried it over to their laptops, expecting users to just buy a new laptop every 2-3 years versus the trivial and inexpensive practice of replacing a worn-out battery like they were able to do for generations before. This can turn being an Macbook owner into effectively a $1000/year hardware subscription for some users.

It is unfortunate that the phone manufacturers have moved in unision to follow Apple's abhorrent lead in this behavior, leaving users with pretty much no options for a proper phone with removable battery (or headphone jack, or expandable storage... all things users enjoyed for many years before the iPhone ruined it for everyone). So at this point it's important to voice your objection to Apple and other manufacturers, as well as let your congretional representatives know how you feel as there are various "right to repair" laws currently being pursued and considered.