Apple has been facing a $2 billion mass lawsuit in regards to an accusation of hiding defective batteries in millions of iPhones by “throttling” them with software updates.
Apple faces Billion Dollars Lawsuit Due to Hiding Defective Batteries
The Cupertino based tech giant is facing a lawsuit worth up to 1.6 billion pounds plus interest, brought by consumer champion Justin Gutmann on behalf of iPhone users in the United Kingdom.
As per the lawyers of Gutmann, Apple has concealed the issues with batteries in certain phone models and “surreptitiously” installed a power management tool which limited performance.
Apple Strongly Denies, Calls the Allegations “Baseless”
Calling the lawsuit as “baseless”, Apple strongly denied the claim that iPhones’ batteries were defective, apart from in a small number of iPhone 6s models for which it offered free battery replacements.
Touching down on the topic of power management tool, Apple said that the power management update was introduced in 2017 in order to manage demands on older batteries or with a low level of charge – only reduced an iPhone 6’s performance by an average of 10%.
On Tuesday, Gutmann asked London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal to certify the case and allow it to proceed towards a trial.
His lawyer Philip Moser referred to Apple’s 2020 agreements to settle a U.S. class action and regulatory action by U.S. states over iPhone battery issues as showing Apple was not “saying this never happened”.
He added that Apple previously also committed to be “clearer and more upfront” with iPhone users about battery health to Britain’s competition watchdog in 2019.
The company denies misleading its customers about iPhone battery issues and points to a public apology it issued in 2017, offering cheaper battery replacements to affected customers.
Apple’s lawyer David Wolfson said in court filings that the lawsuit effectively alleges that “not all batteries could deliver the peak power demanded in all circumstances at all times”, which was common to all battery-powered devices.
