They throttled performance depending on battery capacity, because the alternative was that the battery could not keep up with a sudden spike, powering off completely.

The problem was that they didn’t notify users, and after people in France winning a lawsuit, they now have it opt in I think? Nonetheless, it was a feature made in good faith.

The optics of that were absolutely terrible. They could have announced it in WWDC and made people aware of it. Instead they raised a shitstorm for no good reason.

Good intent or not, the management execution of it was completely botched. They could have even come out on top by projecting that they care about older devices' usability, if they had announced the feature; it was a no brainier and PR/marketing person worth their salt would tell that. Which makes me question the bit: "good intent on their part" :-|

Yup, planned obsolescence is real and a part of every megacap's strategy.

Apple was intentionally lowering power usage on old phones with failing batteries, in order to prolong battery life and get you more use out of them.