---
title: Does Your Old iPhone Feel Slow? You're Not the Only One
description: Every time a new phone is released, people start Googling for information about their sluggish phones.
authors:
  - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann
    url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/
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published: '2015-10-07T19:40:30.000Z'
modified: '2024-04-16T07:04:06.000Z'
section: Technology
tags:
  - cell phones
  - iPhone
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  - pubdesk
  - Slow
word_count: 235
canonical: https://money.com/iphone-slow-software-update/
type: Article
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> **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/).

![Apple Store iPhone](https://img.money.com/2015/10/gettyimages-4900070381.jpg)

If you don't have the new iPhone 6s, you might be noticing that your phone is a little slower than it used to be, and maybe your battery has a little less stamina. You might chalk it up to your phone getting older, this phenomenon has some interesting timing—directly after the new iPhone release—timing Google Trends shows recurs every time a new phone comes out.

Mapping out search trends following every iPhone release since the first model into a chart, the Germany-based online statistics firm [Statista](http://www.statista.com/chart/2514/iphone-releases/) found some interesting spikes for the search term "iPhone slow":

![Infographic: The](https://d28wbuch0jlv7v.cloudfront.net/images/infografik/normal/chartoftheday_2514_iphone_releases_n.jpg)

While you might expect this to happen as new operating systems have new features that might tax old phone processors—Statista notes there could be a psychological component going on. Users who haven't upgraded feel they're behind the curve so their phones feel slow.

One interesting observation here is that the search volume has such sharp peaks, trailing off just a few weeks after a release, which adds credence to that psychological effect—people often waited until their phone's upgrade cycle to get a new phone so it's unlikely *everyone* searching simply got a new phone in the weeks after the release. However, when the next few months' numbers come in, there will be more data to support that point: With more people on month-to-month plans, cell phone buying isn't as [tied to that two-year calendar as it used to be](https://money.com/verizon-2015-mobile-cell-phone-no-contract/).

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