Apple should have seen this coming. Just as you would have read that the slowing down of some of Apple’s older iPhones was deliberately done by the manufacturer, a class action suit has since been filed against Apple in the USA. Apple had explained in a letter to Reuter after appeared online on the issue that the older phones tended to be affected due to the ageing batteries and to prevent this from damaging the processor, Apple had introduced an update on these iPhones that would slow down the phone.
In their petition, Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas, the plaintiffs, who are residents of California and also own iPhone 7, claim that Apple did not seek their consent before taking unilateral steps to slow down their devices. In their words, they "suffered interferences to their iPhone usage due to the intentional slowdowns".
The plaintiffs go on to claim that they even suffered “economic damages” and are therefore, entitled to compensation from Apple towards this. Apple did not respond to this news.
Meanwhile the 2 plaintiffs are aiming to rope in practically every iPhone owner within the US, of iPhones older than the iPhone 8.
To recall the technical explanation offered by Apple, the company confirmed that when either the old battery is low on charge or is in a cold condition, then whenever the phone or any particular app’s use leads to a spike in the power requirement, if the slowdown is not initiated, it may even result in the battery getting damaged and in the process, the phone’s processor itself could be damaged.
It said that it had algorithms in place to help keep an iPhone running at optimal performance if there is an older battery inside that can't keep up with the required power. The idea behind this is to stop unexpected shutdowns of older iPhones and keep them running to the best possible standard, which has been slowing the iPhones down.