Apple faces over 26 lawsuits for secretly slowing down older iPhones

Apple has intentionally reduced the performance of processors of older iPhones via software updates, and that action has become one hell of a big trouble for the Cupertino based tech giant. The number of lawsuits filed against Apple in this regard was earlier reported to be eight, but now the tech giant faces over two dozen lawsuits in various states of the US.

The lawsuits filed in various states allege Apple over reducing iPhones performance as the battery ages and failing to disclose power management changes it made with an update in iOS 10.2.1. Among the total lawsuits filed, 24 of them include action class complaint in the United States. The latest two of them are filed in New York and Ohio by Marc Honigman and Lauri Sullivan-Stefanou respectively.

According to the complaint of Sullivan-Stefanou,

“Unbeknownst to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPhone 6s owners, Apple inserted code into iOS 10.2.1 that deliberately slowed down the processing performance of these phones by linking each phone’s processing performance with its battery health. Absent the code inserted by Apple, the reduced battery capacity of these phones would not have negatively affected processing performance.”

The plaintiff has made a solid point there, and let’s see how far will court agree to this. Meanwhile, according to the reports by MacRumors, Apple has also been sued by few consumers in Israel and France.

Some lawsuits filled against Apple demands the tech giant to offer free battery replacements for older iPhones and must refund all those customers who have bought new iPhone models by replacing their slow older ones.

Some users also believe that Apple intentionally degrades the performance of older iPhones, so that users were left with no option else to buy new ones. The same point of view has been shared by a plaintiff Honigman,

“Apple’s intentional degradation of the iPhone’s performance through the release of iOS impacted the usability of the device. Effectively, Apple has forced the obsolescence of iPhones by secretly diminishing their performance. Thus, Apple’s admission has confirmed what iPhone users have long suspected – i.e., that Apple deliberately degrades the performance of older iPhone models through iOS updates to encourage users to buy new iPhones.”

Well, for now, most of the users of older models of iPhones all over the world are being affected by the issue, including iPhone 7, iPhone 6/6S and older versions. If you want to know that whether your iPhones are also getting lazy, see the process here.