Hmm, if I specifically go looking for reports of benchmarks going down, it does seem to be a much more prevalent story with this version than any previous one.

Yes. The slow down was real and very significant and it lasted hours. It was not people freaking out for no reason.

Reports of post-upgrade slowdown are pretty common (google it for various versions), but this is the first time I’m seeing lots of reports of post-upgrade benchmark hits.

Except for when apple started throttling phones with batteries below 85% capacity.

…to extend the usable life of those batteries.

Yes. So now instead of driving 100 miles with 100 miles pers hour I'm now doing 100 miles with 85 mph.

Did you know that batteries are made of chemicals and don’t last forever? Over time their performance degrades, but you can use them for longer if you don’t use as much peak power.