Apple fined French 25 million euros for reducing iPhone performance

The French version of the Authority for Consumers & Markets has fined Apple 25 million euros because the company is guilty of planned obsolescence, according to the organization.

The Dgccrf reports that Apple has agreed to pay the fine of 25 million euros. Also, the company will adhere to the requirement to publish a press release about the outcome on its French site, for a period of one month. The authority is imposing the fine after an investigation concluded that Apple failed to inform iPhone owners that the update to iOS 10.2.1 and 11.2 would degrade the performance of their smartphones.

This involved the arrival of iOS 10.2.1 for the iPhone 6, 6s and SE, and iOS 11.2 for the iPhone 7, in 2017. Part of those updates was a function to reduce performance with aging batteries. At peak loads, it could happen that the processor would demand too much from the battery, which could lead to failure.

In late December 2017, Apple apologized to customers after the company previously confirmed it had made performance adjustments. The French government began investigating the case in 2018 after a French consumer advocacy group called Stop Programmed Obsolescence filed a complaint.