Apple has been fined the equivalent of $41 Million for deceptive behaviour regarding them using software updates to slow older iPhones down due to aging batteries in them to help keep the phones stable and from unexpectedly shutting down. Apple had applied the slow downs without informing users and the French Courts found that was deceptive by not disclosing at the time they introduced the technique. Apple revealed the slowdowns in 2017 and they still use the technique. The latest batch of phones potentially affected are the XS & XR series of iPhones. A user since iOS 11.3 can see the health of the battery in the Settings section and if throttling has been applied it can be disabled.
It could be cost savings…wait for one other foreign agency to do the hard yards, wait for the verdict and then catch the same wave in Australia when most of the work has been done?
Or their usual pathetic results of finally doing something long after the horse has bolted as per the current Australian 4WD Hire action or the likes of the $2.3M penalty handed to Birubi Art Pty Ltd for fake Indigenous Australian art.
Wait until the prey is already crippled and then shoot. No risk of getting hurt and no hard cleaning up to do such as having to actually bank any fines.
93 million going to the Lawyers who did the Court action on behalf of the Class. $25 is about the most anyone will get except the few who either were chief litigants or testified.
Also need to be US based as well no others will enjoy the compensation.
Apple have been fined again, this time for misleading commercial practices by the Italian antitrust authority. The fine amount was 10 million Euros. The misleading practice was how it rated certain iPhones (8 onwards) as water resistant (but using very specific conditions in which they were resistant ie pure water and the water had to be still) and denying Warranty claims. So salt water, moving water eg streams or other fluid damage was outside what Apple would repair damage from.
I am not sure what the ACCC may think of this action and if Apple should be taken to task here as well? It would seem the claims of “water resistance” may have been overstated here as well.
Has anyone had issues with this particular problem on their 8 and later iPhones?
If they had been damaged did Apple fix them or did the owner have to argue or was the warranty repair refused?
