A group for consumer advice in Europe has filed the latest class action lawsuit against Apple, saying the company deliberately suffocated older iPhones in Italy. First reported by TechCrunchin the new lawsuit compensation of € 60 million (approximately $ 73 million) in compensation – or approximately € 60 per device – for owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S and 6S Plus models sold in Italy between 2014 and 2020 . Euroconsumers, an umbrella advocacy organization in the EU that includes the Altroconsumo of Italy, says the € 60 fee is the average amount consumers paid to replace their devices’ batteries.
‘When consumers buy Apple iPhones, they expect sustainable quality products. That is unfortunately not what happened with the iPhone 6 series, “said Els Bruggeman, head of policy and enforcement at Euroconsumers, in a statement. “Not only were consumers deceived, and they had to suffer frustration and financial damage, from an environmental point of view it is also completely irresponsible.”
In December, Euroconsumers filed two similar lawsuits on behalf of the member organizations Test-Achats in Belgium and OCU in Spain. The group said in a press release that it was planning a fourth lawsuit in Portugal.
“We have never – and would never – do anything to deliberately shorten the life of any Apple product or degrade the user experience to upgrade customers,” an Apple spokesman said in an email. The edge. “Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and keeping iPhones as long as possible is an important part of that.”
Apple agreed to a $ 500 million settlement in the US in March last year, after admitting that older iPhones had slowed down. It compensated consumers who bought an iPhone 6 or 7 to save battery life. The case arose from the controversy of technology giant “Batterygate”, when iPhone users discovered in 2017 that iOS limits the processing speed as the iPhone batteries age. Apple has not announced to consumers that the feature exists – which is intended to address issues with the performance of phones. Users said if they knew about the slowdown, they would have just replaced the battery, rather than buying a brand new phone, as many people have done.
The company agreed in November to a second settlement – this time with 34 U.S. states – for another $ 113 million. The Attorney General said that Apple “fully understood” that by concealing the deliberate slowdown of older phones, the company could benefit from people buying new phones, rather than replacing the batteries. Apple did not acknowledge the allegations in the settlement.
Updated January 25, 10:45 AM ET: Add comments from Apple Spokesman.