Apple can’t block iPhone ‘throttling’ class-action lawsuit, rules court

LONDON: The Competition Appeal Tribunal here has denied Apple’s request to block a UK class action lawsuit that accused the tech giant of intentionally slowing down the performance of older iPhones to encourage customers to buy newer models.

Consumer rights campaigner Justin Gutmann filed a lawsuit against Apple last year that alleged the company installed batteries in the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, and 7 Plus that couldn’t keep up with the device’s processor or operating system, reports The Verge.

Apple attempted to block the lawsuit in May, calling the accusations “baseless”.

The company also denied claims that its batteries had issues, except for some iPhone 6S models.

“We have never -- and would never -- do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades,” an Apple spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.

“Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that,” the spokesperson added.

Gutmann filed the lawsuit in the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London, on behalf of up to 25 million UK iPhone users who used any of 10 different models of iPhone.

According to the lawsuit, the iPhone maker "misled" iPhone users by releasing a power management software update that "secretly throttled" the performance of affected devices.

In 2020, Apple announced to pay up to $500 million in the US market to end several lawsuits accusing the company of slowing down certain older iPhone models with software updates.

Apple in 2017 had admitted that it occasionally slowed down certain iPhone models with older batteries to avoid unexpected shutdowns.

Apple denied any wrongdoing, but agreed for the settlement.

However, it apologised for not communicating to users properly and offered affected customers cut-price iPhone battery replacements.