Apple Battles $2 Billion Lawsuit Over Alleged iPhone ‘Throttling’

Summary:

• Apple is facing a $2 billion mass lawsuit in the U.K. over alleged iPhone “throttling.”
• Consumer champion Justin Gutmann claims the tech giant limited performance on certain models to hide battery defects.
• The tech giant on Tuesday asked a London tribunal to block the lawsuit.

Apple on Tuesday petitioned London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal to block a $2 billion lawsuit over its alleged “throttling” of iPhones with software updates — reports Reuters.

The lawsuit, filed by consumer champion Justin Gutmann on behalf of iPhone users in the U.K., claims that Apple deliberately limited performance on certain models by “surreptitiously” installing a power management tool in a software update, all to cover up battery defects.

Gutmann on Tuesday asked the Tribunal to certify the case as a class action and allow it to go to trial. The lawsuit is seeking up to £1.6 billion in damages, plus interest.

In written arguments, Apple called the lawsuit “baseless.” The company further denied the claims of any iPhones being shipped with defective batteries, barring a small number of iPhone 6s units that were found to have problems and Apple offered free battery replacements for.

In addition, Apple clarified that its power management update, which was rolled out in 2017, was designed to manage demands on older batteries or those with low health and only reduced an iPhone 6’s performance by an average of 10%.

This is far from the first time Apple has been accused of slowing down iPhones with software updates. A lawyer for Gutmann cited Apple’s 2020 settlement in a U.S. class action lawsuit and regulatory action by U.S. states over iPhone battery issues and said that the company was not “saying this never happened.”

David Wolfson, a lawyer representing Apple, said in court filings that Gurmann’s lawsuit effectively alleges that “not all batteries could deliver the peak power demanded in all circumstances at all times,” which is true for all battery-powered devices.

Apple recently won an appeal it filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal against the U.K. Competition and Market Authority (CMA)’s investigation into Safari and the App Store.