“A Canadian law firm has filed another class action lawsuit against Apple for secretly throttling performance on iPhones with aged batteries,” Liam Tung reports for ZDNet. “The suit, filed by Ontario law firm Rochon Genova, argues Apple’s omission of details about performance management features in iOS 10.2.1, 10.3, and 11.2 violated sections of Canada’s Consumer Protection Act, and accuses the iPhone maker of breach of contract, deceit, neglect, fraudulent concealment, and unjust enrichment.”
“The class action’s lead plaintiff, Cherif Saleh, bought an iPhone 6 in 2015 and claims to have experienced slowdowns after installing two of the updates before iOS 11.2 ‘rendered his iPhone 6 unusable,'” Tung reports. “Saleh argues that Apple Support advised him to buy an iPhone 7 or later model because only those models could properly support recent iOS updates. He then bought an iPhone X in October.”
“The class action is seeking $500m in damages or another sum determined by the court on behalf of every Canadian resident who bought an iPhone 6, 6 Plus 6s Plus, SE, 7, and 7 Plus. As the document notes, over half of smartphone users in Canada rely on an iPhone.,” Tung reports. “Apple now faces 59 class action suits in 16 courts in the US, which includes 30 filed in the Northern District of California. Since many of the lawsuits have overlapping claims it’s likely they’ll be merged.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There’s no excusing this one. Apple deserves the ongoing headache. Hopefully, when all is said and done and paid, the company will have learned an important lesson about transparency and communication with their customers.
As has almost always been the case with Apple, unfortunately, transparency comes later, not sooner, and usually as a reaction to negative publicity. A simple Knowledge Base article would have preempted all of this Reddit sleuthing and the attendant handwringing and erroneous presumptions. — MacDailyNews, December 20, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Apple now faces more than 60 class action lawsuits over iPhone batterygate – February 26, 2018
Getting a new iPhone battery is often a frustrating, weeks-long process – February 20, 2018
Apple tells U.S. Senate company may offer rebates for battery purchases amid iPhone blowback – February 6, 2018
Apple previews iOS 11.3 with new battery health features, ability to turn processor throttling on and off, and more – January 24, 2018
Tim Cook: ‘Maybe we should have been clearer’ over throttling iPhones with aging batteries – January 18, 2018
China consumer group seeks answers from Apple over batterygate – January 16, 2018
South Korean consumer group considering criminal case against Apple over iPhone batterygate – January 11, 2018
Republican Senator John Thune, Chair of the U.S. Commerce Committee, has some questions for Apple over throttling old iPhones – January 10, 2018
French prosecutor launches probe into Apple planned obsolescence – January 8, 2018
Apple’s design decisions and iPhone batteries – January 8, 2018
Apple now faces over two dozen lawsuits for ‘purposefully’ or ‘secretly’ slowing down older iPhones – January 5, 2018
Why aging batteries don’t slow down Android phones like Apple iPhones – January 5, 2018
Apple’s $29 replacement batteries expected to hurt new iPhone sales – January 4, 2018
How to see if Apple’s throttling your iPhone – January 4, 2018
Brazilian agency requires Apple to inform consumers on batteries – January 3, 2018
Analyst: Apple’s ‘batterygate’ solution may mean 16 million fewer iPhones sold this year – January 3, 2018
An Apple conspiracy theory blooms – January 2, 2018
Apple clarifies policy on $29 battery replacements: All iPhone 6 and later devices are eligible – January 2, 2018<
Why werent there 60 class action lawsuit against Samsung for EXPLODING PHONES…. you have to wonder where the money for these suits comes from….
Spot on! Apple had no legal, moral obligation to give user choice on this, simply another childish, overblown, phony PR problem where the whiners won attention but not successful adjudication.
lawyers win whiners lose
Actually getting tired of reprinting the same darn thing from a different source, Yeah, Apple should have communicated it better..
Who knows, despite all the lawsuits, how many people are going to wind up with a coupon for a new battery if they didn’t get one already. This assumes they’ll even get that much ($29), They are probably thinking they’ll get a new iPhone, never going to happen, and the lawyers will take their cut, so the coupon could be even less.. When are these moron’s going to learn there is no free lunch…
And not a one of them will see any $$$ results other than what Apple has already offered and modified in iOS (unless a very small amount money is forthcoming to get rid of this nuisance suit – mostly for the lawyers). Proving real damages will only be humorously ineffective and not worth anyone’s time.
Yes it was stupid for Apple to put themselves into this position and I still think Apple Legal was snoozing on this big time. I don’t think Apple was being malicious and for those who think it was let’s face it – you’re always looking for the bad in people and Apple in particular.
I think the Mac Pro debacle was just a matter of incompetence and negligence much as this was. A company like Apple needs somebody sitting in final overview on their every action, as the wrong action can come back to bite you. Theoretically that’s the CEO deal but Tim’s missed too much important stuff by his lonesome and needs some help.