Apple is giving away over 750 million euros to its customers

 





(AFP) - London (AFP) - After a consumer rights group filed a claim alleging Apple of secretly slowing down older iPhone models, the company is facing a £750 million (878 million euros, $918 million) lawsuit in the United Kingdom.


According to Justin Gutmann, Apple "throttled" the performance of earlier iPhone devices after consumers made upgrades that were supposed to boost the device's performance.


"We have never – and would never – do anything to purposefully shorten the life of any Apple product, or impair the user experience to force consumer upgrades," Apple stated in a statement.


"Our objective has always been to make products that our customers love," the statement said, "and making iPhones last as long as possible is a crucial part of that."


Gutmann's claim to the Competition Appeal Tribunal seeks £768 million in damages for 25 million iPhone customers.

The issue centers on a power management mechanism introduced in a 2017 software update that slowed down older iPhone models and prevented them from shutting down unexpectedly as they battled with the overhead of a new operating system.


Gutmann believes that Apple never informed users that the upgrade could cause their device to slow down, and that the tool was created to avoid costly repairs or recalls.

"Rather of doing the right thing by its customers and offering a free replacement, repair service, or compensation," Gutmann added, "Apple misled individuals by hiding a tool in software upgrades that slowed their devices by up to 58 percent."


"I'm filing this lawsuit so that millions of iPhone customers in the United Kingdom can be compensated for the harm caused by Apple's actions."

Apple issued an apology at the time, stating that it will replace batteries at a reduced cost and allow consumers to manually switch off the power management function.


In response to legal action in multiple countries, it agreed to pay up to $500 million in 2020 to owners of earlier models in the United States.


In the same year, French regulators penalized the company 25 million euros for failing to warn customers that software updates could slow down older devices.


Owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X models are eligible for compensation.



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