Apple Sued in Chicago for Slowing Down Older iPhones

Rather than having a phone shut down automatically to protect itself, Apple said that past year it tweaked its iOS software for some older iPhones so they slow down instead.

Apple disclosed Wednesday that it updated the software of older iPhones to slow them down when the battery can’t keep up with the phone’s processor. So if Apple is to be believed, it silently started this practice a year ago, to compensate for battery degradation, and not to push frustrated users towards buying new iPhones faster. This happened with the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6S past year.

The lawsuit comes in the wake of news that Apple reduces the performance on the iPhone SE, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 7 as their batteries wear out and no longer hold a full charge.

Evidence of the software change could be seen in power-intensive tasks – such as creating Snapchat filters – that became slower to demand less of the system. It also claims that this decision of Apple lowers the resale value of older iPhones and indirectly pressures iPhone owners to upgrade to newer mobile model.

Cupertino-based tech giant, Apple, has raked up a new controversy after news of it intentionally slowing down old iPhones emerged.

Perhaps that will satisfy some of Apple’s customers, but probably not too many of them.

Ala Abdulla and Lance Raphael, both of Illinois; Sam Mangano, of Ohio; Ryan Glaze, of IN; and Kirk Pedelty, of North Carolina, all said they purchased new iPhones after earlier models grew sluggish.

While Apple’s strategy makes sense, it’s one that should have been explained better upfront to customers, Jonny Evans said in Computerworld today. The reduction in processing speed, which is automatically implemented in software updates, could have been made optional, so users can choose the compromise they would prefer to make with their ageing devices.

Curiously, the lawsuit lists the iPhone 7s among the devices affected. If Apple is going to drop the performance of a smartphone because of poor battery life, it should replace an iPhone’s battery at no charge.

The iThing maker didn’t give much by way of explanation: just that it was affecting only “a very small number of iPhone 6s” manufactured between September and October 2015.

Apple has been contacted for comment.

In early December, media reports suggested that Apple was purposefully lowering the speeds of iPhone processors after several years of their use.

Both plaintiffs are owners of an iPhone 7 and said they “suffered interferences to their iPhone usage due to the intentional slowdowns”.