Apple faces £768M lawsuit over ‘secret throttling’ of iPhones – could it be your claim?
APPLE could be forced to pay millions to iPhone owners after being accused of “throttling” devices to slow them down.
A huge lawsuit has been filed in the UK on behalf of up to 25 million customers.
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Consumer champion Justin Gutmann is hoping to snag around £768m from the tech giant through the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
His claim is related to an incident in 2017 involving a power management tool on older iPhone models.
The company is accused of slowing down the performance of iPhone phones through software updates, a process known as “throttling.”
It is claimed that Apple misled users by urging them to download iOS updates that were supposed to improve performance when they actually slowed them down.
Information about the tool behind it was apparently missing from the download notes at the time, nor was there any mention that the speed could be achieved – although information was added at a later date.
Gutmann’s claim is that Apple did all of this to cover up the fact that iPhone batteries can’t cope with the new iOS.
Apple apologized in late 2017 after users complained about performance issues.
The company promised to replace batteries at a heavily discounted price for a limited time and introduce a feature that allows users to turn off the power management tool.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook also issued a public apology for the incident, saying the company has never tried to mislead anyone and intentionally shorten the lifespan of its products.
If successful, every buyer of the iPhone models 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X would be entitled to compensation.
But it’s not clear how much each person could receive at this point.
“Rather than doing the honorable and legal behavior of its customers and offering a free replacement, repair service, or compensation, Apple has instead misled people by hiding a tool in software updates that upgrades their devices by up to 58% % slowed down,” said Mr. Gutmann.
“I am bringing this case to help millions of iPhone users across the UK receive redress for the harm they have suffered as a result of Apple’s actions.
“If this case is successful, I hope that dominant companies will reassess their business models and refrain from this type of behavior.”
In response, Apple told The Sun, “We have never – and never would – do anything to intentionally shorten the lifespan of an Apple product or compromise the user experience to drive customer upgrades.”
“Our goal has always been to create products our customers love, and making sure iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.”
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https://www.thesun.ie/tech/8957407/apple-lawsuit-768-million-iphone-throttling/ Apple faces £768M lawsuit over ‘secret throttling’ of iPhones – could it be your claim?