Apple Faces 32 Lawsuits Over iPhone Slowdowns

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Apple’s fortunes don’t seem to be improving with regards to the iPhone throttling debacle, as the firm now has to fend off 32 class action lawsuits across the United States.

Over the past few weeks, Apple has confirmed that it intentionally slows down the battery life of older iPhones without the authorisation of device owners.

Critics have accused the company of using this sly tactic to get consumers to upgrade to newer models, and as a result, the tech giant has been slapped with a plethora of course cases.

According to ZDNet, the total number of lawsuits filed against Apple has grown to more than 30 within the last few days. There are also potential cases manifesting in France, Canada, Australia and South Korea.

This week, five American law firms have opened cases against the iPhone maker, claiming damages on the behalf of consumer, said Patently Apple.

One of these law firms happens to be Hagens Berman, which previously won a case against Apple for fixing e-book prices. The company had to shell out $450 million in cash.

As ZDNet reports, another suit is looking to take down Apple over unfair conduct, trespass to chattels, breach of implied duty, breach of good faith and fair dealing, and fraudulent activity.

“Defendant Apple intentionally interfered with, and committed trespass to, plaintiff’s and putative class members’ property, i.e., their iPhones, by installing performance-throttling software on their phones without their knowledge,” said lawyers at Hagens Berman.

“To reiterate: because Apple did not inform them of, or seek their consent to installation of, performance-throttling software when presenting them with the iOS 10.2.1 or 11.2 updates, or both of them, plaintiff and the putative class members did not consent to Apple’s interference.”

The firm has apologised over the incident, though. In a statement, it said: “We’ve been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process.”

“We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we’re making.”

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