Brit starts mass claim against Apple for slowing down older iPhones

A Briton has sued Apple in the United Kingdom because the company made older iPhones slower with an update in 2017. It concerns an opt-out compensation claim, whereby all affected Britons are automatically entitled to money if Apple loses.

Justin Gutmann says that Apple has abused its dominant market position by ‘exploiting and using unfair practices’ British consumers and businesses. It’s about distributing iOS updates that “demand more from iPhones than the installed batteries can provide, increasing the chance of unexpected phone failures.” Those updates also introduced throttling to the phones, slowing them down to reduce power demand.

The Brit also believes that Apple has not communicated transparently enough about these updates and says that Apple has thereby violated British competition law. Britons with an iPhone 6 to iPhone X are therefore entitled to compensation according to Gutmann and so he started the compensation claim against Apple. The Competition Appeal Tribunal will now consider the case. If the tribunal decides that Britons are indeed entitled to compensation, those affected must report and receive it. Victims do not have to report yet.

According to Gutmann, there are up to 25 million British victims who are entitled to compensation and the claim is therefore worth up to 768 million pounds. This amounts to about 898 million euros, or an average of just under 36 euros per person.

Apple admitted in 2017 to have distributed updates that slow down smartphones with older batteries and said it did this to prevent the phones from unexpectedly shutting down. This has led to several investigations and damages, including a settlement of up to $500 million in the United States. Consumer organizations in Europe also wanted compensation and in France the company was fined 25 million euros.