Head-to-head tests show that models as old as the iPhone 6S run iOS 13 at least as fast as iOS 12, and some devices see a performance boost.
The same is true for battery life: testing indicates Apple’s latest operating system puts no additional strain on the battery of older models.
iOS 13 is often faster than iOS 12.4.1
Two iPhone 6S, iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 units run iOS 12.4.1 and the iOS 13 Golden Master side-by-side in a video created by the iAppleBytes YouTube channel.
This shows no significant change in Benchmark scores between each operating system version, but iOS 13 is able to launch some third-party apps more quickly.
Watch the full video:
iOS 13 doesn’t kill iPhone battery life
iAppleBytes then recorded the battery lives of an iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 running iOS 12.4.1 before installing iOS 13 GM and rerunning the battery test.
In all cases, the time to go from 100% to 0% changed only slightly depending on the operating system version, with iOS 13 winning half the time.
Watch the video demonstrating these results:
That said, an earlier study by iAppleBytes found that devices still running a very old version of iOS might have longer battery lives than if they are updated to recent ones.
But it has to be at least iOS 10. The test showed iOS 11 has approximately the same battery life as iOS 12.
Source: iAppleBytes