> They did nerf speed. But they did it for a reason.
That reason was to incentivize people to replace their old "slow" phones with faster new phones. If Apple actually cared about the problem of older phones having limited battery life they'd have made the batteries in their phones replaceable.
There are conflicting priorities in every product. Apple tends to optimize look and feel over practicality. So they’ve drawn a hard line at user-serviceable battery. I agree with you that’d a bad call, but I also understand that once you’ve made that call the next best option is what they did.
They are replaceable. I've replaced batteries in older iPhones plenty of times, had Apple replace the battery in a few, and I'm probably going to use the Self Service program to get the parts for my 14 Pro Max soon as it's getting a bit tired out.
I suppose that anything is "replaceable" if you're willing to involve things like soldering irons, heat guns, or specialized tools, but replacing a battery on an iphone is not something that the vast majority of the population would be equipped to do or be comfortable doing.
That reason was to incentivize people to replace their old "slow" phones with faster new phones. If Apple actually cared about the problem of older phones having limited battery life they'd have made the batteries in their phones replaceable.