France Fined Apple 25 Million for Slowing Down iPhone

Apple has to pay 25 million euros because it hid customers that it is slowing down older iPhones to keep the devices stable.

 

The fine is imposed by the French consumer, competition and fraud authority. In addition to the amount of 25 million euros, Apple must also post the report on its French-language website for a month.

The case goes back to the end of 2017 when Apple admitted that it slows down older iPhones with software. The company says it does this when the performance of the battery deteriorates, which can cause crashes at peak loads. Delaying the phone prevents that.

But Apple only confirmed the practice after tests showed up from a user who could prove black and white that his device performs much better after inserting a new battery.

At the same time, the story has been going on for years that many users felt that their device was slowing down with time. Apple did emphasise that it implemented the delay to improve quality, not to drive customers to new devices.

The French regulator imposes the fine because customers were not informed that installing iOS 10.2.1 and 11.0 would result in a delay of their device.

At the time it was mainly about the iPhone 6, 6s and SE, but today the practise is still applied to current models as soon as the battery capacity goes below a certain point.