Does Apple deliberately slow its old models before a new release?
dailymail.co.uk
dailymail.co.uk
It doesn't mean that they deliberately slow down iPhones. New software is usually more bloated. Apple often does improve performance in the minor releases that follow, however.
Leaving aside the fact that Android users barely get updates, they don't usually coincide with new releases. I'd like to see how slowness questions coincide with Android software updates for corresponding phones.