Blog/Apple sued in UK for deliberately slowing down iPhones

16th June 2022

Justin Gutmann, a consumer champion in the UK is suing tech giant Apple for introducing a 2017 update to iPhones that was designed to slow them down.

The process, known as ‘throttling’, leverages Apple’s dominance in the market and the almost unparalleled brand loyalty of its customers, and decreases the performance of older iPhones by as much as 58%, prompting owners to ditch their old device in favour of buying an expensive new and comparatively much quicker iPhone.

The corporation itself argues that the update was intended to save battery life, however similar cases against Apple in the US have been settled costing it hundreds of millions of pounds, so compelling was evidence to the contrary.

Apple have since acknowledged the issue and have apologised, but its handling of the situation – instead of offering a replacement iPhone handset, a free repair service or compensation – they chose to try and hide the software at the heart of the claim, prompting Gutmann, and those like him, to take action.

“I’m launching this case so that millions of iPhone users across the UK will receive redress for the harm suffered by Apple’s actions.” said Gutmann.

“If this case is successful, I hope dominant companies will re-evaluate their business models and refrain from this kind of conduct”.

The great news is that people who owned certain iPhone models and who may have been affected by the update may be entitled to a payout if the case is successful.

The case will be heard by the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, which specialises in anti-competitive market practices, and it is an ‘opt-out claim’ meaning that anyone who owned an iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X can seek damages without being actively involved in the case.

Apple hasn’t yet commented on the latest claim.

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