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Apple faces lawsuit over ‘performance throttling’ that slows performance of older iPhones

Apple is facing a class action lawsuit in London today over claims it is ‘throttling’ the performance of its own handsets to get users to upgrade to the latest model. 

The lawsuit, brought forward by consumer champion Justin Gutmann, alleges that Apple pushed users to download iOS updates that installed a ‘throttling feature’ on their iPhones, leading to unexpected shutdowns and poor device performance. 

Mr Gutmann has filed a claim with the Competition Appeal Tribunal at Salisbury Square in London seeking damages of approximately £768 million for up to 25 million UK owners of a range of older iPhone models. 

 However, tech experts claim that Apple’s performance management software really does help to preserve the battery life of older devices, and is not just a cynical trick to get customers to buy new phones. 

‘In fairness to Apple it does have an excellent track record on software updates and its phones often remain in use much longer than others,’ Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight, told Mail Online.

The tech giant has previously admitted that it uses software updates to limit performance on older iPhone models to stop them from shutting down, but claims it would never intentionally shorten the life of an Apple product. 

Apple claims: ‘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.’

‘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.’ 

WHY IS THE CASE BEING BROUGHT FOWARD? 

The lawsuit is being brought forward by consumer champion Justin Gutmann. He is accusing the tech giant of slowing down the performance of iPhone handsets – a process known as ‘throttling’.

His claim relates to the introduction of a ‘power management tool’ first released in January 2017 in software update iOS 10.2.1.

This tool was allegedly rolled out to slow down older iPhone models with ageing batteries, which may have struggled to run the latest iOS software.

Mr Gutmann alleges that information about this tool was not included in the software update download description at the time, nor that it would slow a user’s device.

Overall, Apple misled users by pushing them to download software updates it said would improve the performance of some devices but, in fact, slowed them down, Gutmann argues. 

DOES APPLE REALLY SLOW DOWN iPHONES?

Back in December 2017, Apple admitted it does intentionally ‘smooth out’ the performance of its smartphones when a battery gets too old – almost a year after first doing so. 

Apple explains on its support site that, when the lithium-ion batteries in iPhones ‘chemically age’, their ability to deliver maximum instantaneous performance, or ‘peak power’, can decrease. 

As a result, an older device with a chemically-aged battery is at risk of simply shutting down when it experiences a surge in power, as it is unable to cope.

pple’s power management tool aims to ‘smooth out’ these peaks by ‘determining the capability of the battery to supply this power’ and ‘managing loads’ in order to maintain operations. 

Unfortunately for the user, this also slows the device down. 

UK technology expert James Bore told Sky News on Thursday morning that Apple wanted to throttle the iPhones down so they would last longer, not to force users to buy new models. 

‘That’s their claim, that does seem to be what the software update did, but they weren’t particularly transparent about it,’ Bore said. 

Apple may not have intended to lack transparency, as ‘tech companies tend to be not very good at communicating to owners of their devices’, Bore said. 

‘It’s not necessarily deliberately malicious, it’s more they just don’t consider the consumer when they’re doing these clever little technical things,’ he added.  

WHICH IPHONE MODELS ARE INCLUDED IN THE CLAIM?

UK residents who owned any of 10 different iPhone models at any point from September 13, 2016 will be able to claim compensation if the case is successful. 

The devices are iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X. 

WHY IS THROTTLING SUCH AN ISSUE? 

The argument is that, when iPhones slow down due to throttling, users are more likely to discard the affected device and buy a new one, further fuelling Apple’s immense sales. 

This results in an increase in electronic waste, which often ends up in landfill and seeps harmful chemicals into the ground. 

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dailymail.co.uk

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