Suit: Apple slowed iPhones, forcing owners to buy new ones

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Michael Tarm, Ap Legal Affairs Writer

 Updated 9:22 pm, Friday, December 22, 2017

CHICAGO (AP) — IPhone owners from several states sued Apple Inc. for not disclosing sooner that it issued software updates deliberately slowing older-model phones so aging batteries lasted longer, saying Apple's silence led them to wrongly conclude that their only option was to buy newer, pricier iPhones.

The allegations were in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Chicago federal court on behalf of five iPhone owners from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina, all of whom say they never would have bought new iPhones had Apple told them that simply replacing the batteries would have sped up their old ones. The suit alleges Apple violated consumer fraud laws.

A similar lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles. Both suits came a day after Apple confirmed what high-tech sleuths outside the company already observed: The company had deployed software to slow some phones. Apple said it was intended as a fix to deal with degraded lithium-ion batteries that could otherwise suddenly die.

"Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices," an Apple statement said. It said it released the fix for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE and later extended it to iPhone 7. Apple didn't respond to a message Friday seeking comment.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Suit-iPhones-slowed-by-Apple-forced-owners-to-by-12450723.php

[virgogal]

1. I had lunch with a 20 year old grandson today

and he was very annoyed about this intentional slowdown.

Apple could be shooting themselves in the foot.

[ileus]

16. Apple folks won't budge from Apple, and they know it.

[unblock]

2. I can see this as unintentional, but still it amounts to deception that cost consumers.

[cstanleytech]

10. Agreed. What they should have done was issued the patch that gave the consumer a

choice to easily turn it on and off with the default being off.

[mentalslavery]

3. Thats why I never update....I have found via experience that it does not help

I never update anything...phone....computer....and they always run just like brand new...interesting

[elmac]

4. the same apple

that will make hundreds of millions off the fascist tax cuts

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. Not defending Apple but...

I understand what they did in a fundamental sense and it appears to be a practical solution at face value. They can detect when a battery is getting aged (electrically soft) and the software revision forces the processor to slow down to prevent the phone from crashing.

Where I would fault Apple is in not clearly notifying customers as to exactly what their updates do, and what options are available to users (such as battery replacement). I'm not an Apple user (and never will be) but from what I've seen in friend's phones, the upgrades just start installing with no more than a simple yes/no window without any technical explanation.

My experiences with Apple customer service (helping friends) has not been good and their web site sucks. They assume everyone has an Apple-brain, LOL.

Maybe the law suits will get their attention and force them to be more informative and straightforward with customers.

[unblock]

13. Its easy enough not to update.

Personally, I just delay updating, especially for major updates. I let a couple weeks pass until I hear they’ve fixed the initial bugs, then I’ll update straight to the patch.

That might not have helped me in this case. But I have a battery case, so the battery inside my iPhone is rarely used. Cheaper and easier to buy a new case than to replace the internal battery.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. IF the system is slowing because the battery is weak, it makes sense.

BUT, if the system is slowing because the phone is a "7" or "6" or "5", then it's a dumb stunt, since batteries wear out at different rates, and you can get a new battery.

It would be nice if Apple supplied a simple way to gauge the battery's relative capacity, maybe with a warning when it gets very low.

The upgrades are preceded with a technical explanation. It always ends with 'and other improvements" or words like that. Never with words like "and we're slowing down your iPhone 6 so break out your wallet and get a new one."

[Jane Austin]

6. Both of my sons just bought new iPhones.

And they had pretty new ones which had slowed down.

They are pissed.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Apple has been despicable from the very beginning.

When biographies of Steve Jobs started coming out, the more I learned about him, the more I was appalled. He was a total shit and treated everyone around him like shit. Nonetheless, he became an object of cult worship. As is Apple in general. I hate Apple. I was talked into buying an Ipod a while back, and for a while happily loaded the CDs I already owned onto that little device. Nice. Then I went to load some others, and they wouldn't load. Apparently Apple doesn't like it if you've already purchased something and want to transfer it to their device. They want me to repurchase the music. Well, fuck them. I may well go back to toting a CD player and CDs with me when I travel, because I'll be goddamned if I'm going to pay a second time for that music.

There's also an incredible smugness about Apple owners that makes me want to do violence to them.

Back in 1991 when I was buying my first computer I looked at both Apple and PCs. A PC cost literally half of what an Apple would have, with twice the computing power, vastly better graphics, and far, far more apps and programs available. I know that lots of things are different now, and I've never bothered to price an Apple computer since then, so I suppose they cost the same as PCs. Am I right? Or are they still twice as expensive for half the computing power?

So slowing down their phones to force people to buy new ones is something I'd expect from a company founded by a man as awful as Steve Jobs. He was a prick, to but it mildly, and his company is a lot like him.

[cstanleytech]

11. That's odd, I had an iPhone last year (changed it for a Samsung J7 for the larger screen) and

I never had any problem transferring music to the iPhone.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. I'm talking about trying to download my own CDs to my Ipod.

Nothing about an iphone. I don't have one. Don't have any version of a smart phone.

My complaint is that Apple wants me to pay for music I already own.

[unblock]

14. As if bill gates was any better.

Microswift’s core competency has always been in identifying profitable software small companies or individuals developed, then offering them a heavily undervalued buyout or threatening to develop it themselves and crush them out of business by offering it at a loss.

Sometimes they’d even put it in their operating system, which meant that customers got it for “free” (well, ignoring the built-in cost of the operating system and pc itself).

Netscape and 1-2-3 are prime examples, but others abound.

They are classic monopolists and have leveraged they market power like crazy.

[Grins]

18. Jobs got a shit-ton of technology from Xerox!!!

Xerox labs in Palo Alto didn't even know what they had in their own labs so they gave it to Apple. For free. So much tech Apple actually ran a cable across a highway from Xerox to Apple to get the technology.

Same with Microsoft. Gates bought a O/S company that didn't know what they had, either. IBM came looking for an operating system, the CEO of the company they were looking at was a no-show, so IBM took a look at MS! Game over.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. Yes to both.

But Microsoft has not had the same degree of deifying Gates as Apple has of Jobs, and Gates, for all his many flaws, didn't disavow a child of his by claiming he was sterile.

Nor does Microsoft seemed to have overworked its employees to quite the same degree.

A while back I read an interesting article about the culture of work in silicon valley, and the observation was made that had employees of Apple worked normal 40 hour weeks instead of 100 hour weeks which no one can do and actually be productive, the iphone probably would have come to market two years earlier than it did.

I have never respected the culture of work work work work work work work. There needs to be a sensible balance which allows for both sleep and a life outside of work. Microsoft and most software companies are bad, but Apple seems to be vastly worse than most. Not that I'm willing to let any of those companies off the hook.

This is also why I'm horrified at the current trend of nurses working twelve hour shifts. I do not want to be cared for by an exhausted nurse 11 and a half hours into her shift.

[emulatorloo]

8. FUD

Google it.

IBM, then Microsoft, now Google/Android.

Yr a pretty skeptical person about reporting about Latin America. Maybe a good reason to be skeptical about this "reporting" as well. Perhaps not as honest as it appears. Long tradition of FUD.

[DoubleAgentOrange]

9. Fuck Apple

My White-trash Trumpanzee ex loves everything Apple.

She also believes that George Soros used HAARP to punish Trump supporters in Texas and Florida.

In my defense, she's REALLY hot.

[dembotoz]

12. In order to serve you better. ...lol

[Grins]

17. "We didn't do it!!!!"

Right up there with the classics*:

"The dog ate my homework!"
"I have to wash my hair."
"Of course I'll respect you in the morning...."
Her: “I’m fine.”
Her again: "I can change him."
"No way! I don't watch porn!"
"This is my last drink."
"Make your butt looked big? You?"
"We Republicans are always about reaching across the aisle to work in a bi-partisan manner with our Democratic colleagues in Congress."
"Coal is a clean, abundant, and affordable domestic energy resource.”
“Cutting taxes on the rich creates jobs.”
“Cutting wages and benefits create jobs.”
“Cutting regulations creates jobs.”
"Everyone knows climate change is a myth."
"Voter fraud!!! It's everywhere! We have to protect our democracy!"
"Nobody dies because they don't have access to healthcare."
"This bill is primarily about improving health care for American families."
"We believe in science."
"Global warming is unsettled science!"
"Carbon is good for you!"
"We don’t need stronger gun regulation because gun laws don’t work."
"The solution to gun violence is more gun ownership."
"The solution to gun violence is prayer because Americans have “turned their backs on God.”
"We need more guns in bars, schools, and churches. Hey; what could go wrong!!!"
"This tax bill helps the middle class!!" And,
"No internet provider would ever - EVER - block, censor, or slow content just to make a buck...!"


* Yes. Granted; a partial list.

[moonseller66]

20. You got it!

The idiot in charge claimed he could shoot someone on the street and "his" people would still vote for him.

Seems the apple crowd paraphrases the same sentiment with apple products!

[DeminPennswoods]

19. My little flip phone

serves my purposes very well. No update or any other problems.

[crazycatlady]

21. I have a Samsung phone that Apple would have bricked by now

It will be replaced next year (as it doesn't hold a charge that long anymore) when the S9 comes out.

But how many people are using a 2013 model iPhone when it's almost 2018?