Apple faces £768m UK lawsuit for ‘throttling’ older iPhones
Apple’s ‘batterygate’ saga has taken another turn after a legal claim was filed in the UK seeking damages of £768m for millions of iPhone users.
Justin Gutmann, who filed the lawsuit with the Competition Appeal Tribunal last week, believes that Apple intentionally decreased the performance of iPhones when it launched a power management tool back in January 2017.
Apple claims that the software update helped mobile devices with older batteries to continue performing adequately and prevent them from shutting down completely.
The process of slowing down older iPhones to preserve battery life, more commonly known as ‘throttling’, has been controversial and has already resulted in a $113m payout by Apple in the US.
Gutmann says that 25 million iPhone users in the UK should also be compensated as Apple did not do the “honourable and legal thing” by providing free replacements or repairs after the update.
The claim will cover 10 iPhone models: 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X.
Apple refutes the allegations and states that its intentions were always honourable, even though CEO Tim Cook did apologise to those affected in 2018.
The tech giant claims that the software update was launched to increase the longevity of iPhones and not to force users to upgrade to newer models.
Enders Analysis analyst Claire Holubowskyj believes that Apple and other smartphone manufacturers may have to face up to similar claims in the future due to the limitations of ageing batteries.
She concludes: “Until problems of devices and software updates outlasting and exceeding the capabilities of aging batteries are resolved, this challenge will recur.”