Daily US Times, Paris: Apple fined by France’s competition and fraud watchdog DGCCRF for 25 million euros or deliberately slowing down older iPhone models without making it clear to consumers.
The France watchdog said Apple did not warned customers about their older models slow down.
In 2017, Apple confirmed that it did slow down some older iPhones, but argued that they did that to “prolong the life” of the devices.
In a statement, Apple said that they resolved the issue with the watchdog.
Why does Apple slow down iPhones?
Many customers suspected that Apple slowed down older iPhones to encourage them to buy a new model.
But Apple denied the accusation in 2017 while acknowledging the slowdown.
The company said the lithium-ion batteries in the devices became less capable of supplying peak current demands, as they aged over time and that could result in an iPhone unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.
In an attempt to solve the issue, Apple released a software update for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE which “smoothed out” battery performance.
This came into light when a user shared performance result on Reddit, suggesting their iPhone 6S had slowed down considerably as it had aged but had suddenly speeded up again after the battery had been replaced.
What did the DGCCRF say?
The French watchdog said iPhone customers “were not informed that installing iOS updates (10.2.1 and 11.2) could slow down their devices”.
As part of the agreement, the company must display a notice on its French-language website for a month.
DGCCRF said Apple had agreed to pay the fine.
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