This happens on the desktop too. Used to be people (or IT) bought the wrong spec for RAM or disk drive (or CPU vs motherboard). Aggressive backwards compatibility meant the thing still booted.<p>Now most of the computers are preassembeld and never changed, but the external devices’ back compatibility causes this kind of invisible slowdown. Your nice fast disk is connected with a usb 2 cable by mistake. A class of mistake even easier to make with the transition to Type C connectors.<p>Yet if back compatibility were not conserved things would be worse.