Apple previews iOS 11.3 with ability to turn off controversial throttling of older iPhones, new Animoji, business chat in Messages, and more, coming this spring
Major Updates to ARKit, Messages and More Coming This Spring — This spring, iOS 11.3 will deliver exciting new ways …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's preview of iOS 11.3 is the company's answer to the backlash over silently slowing older iPhones: the update ships a switch that lets users disable the performance throttling entirely, alongside new Animoji, Business Chat in Messages, and ARKit improvements. When the update actually landed as the iOS 11.3 release with throttling controls that spring, the toggle became the headline feature.
What makes this more than a one-off patch is the pattern it set: two years later, Apple repeated the move with an opt-out for sending Siri and voice dictation recordings in iOS 13.2 — turning a trust controversy into a shipped user control.
First-order effects
- Owners of older iPhones gain direct control over whether their device trades peak performance for stability, ending Apple's default-only power management on those models.
Second-order effects
- The opt-out template spreads across Apple's software: after throttling, the next controversy-driven toggle arrives with Siri recordings in iOS 13.2, making user-facing controls a standard response to privacy and performance complaints.
Third-order effects
- Platform owners are converging on a model where opaque defaults get converted into visible switches after public pressure — control itself becoming a recurring feature in point releases rather than a fixed design decision.
The trend: Apple is institutionalizing controversy-driven user controls, shipping opt-out toggles for performance and data practices in successive iOS releases.