Apple's batterygate scandal may come back to haunt the company as it may face another lawsuit for decieving the customers, this time in the UK.
Just to jog your memory, in 2017 Apple admitted that it was slowing down old iPhones after it was claimed that Apple throttles old iPhones. The company, however, claimed that it does so to protect the battery wear. Apple was later sued for it and had to pay a hefty fine in the US.
Now, the company is in trouble again as the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruled against Apple today (via Reuters). The lawsuit was brought to court by British consumer champion Justin Gutmann on behalf of 24 million iPhone users.
Gutmann is seeking Apple to pay for damages and is asking 1.6 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) plus interest. This is significiantly higher that what the company had to pay in the US, a fact that was well noted by the tribunal during the hearing. It said that while the lawsuit will move forward, there was "a lack of clarity and specificity" in the case which has to be resolved during the trial.
Justin Gutmann issued a statement where he called the decision "a major step towards consumer justice". Apple, on the other hand, referred to a previous statement, which said: "We have never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades."
With the CAT ruling against Apple, there is a chance we could see more lawsuits against the company in the future.
In the US, Apple ended up agreeing to settle multiple lawsuits for over $500 million, with the company allowing users to submit claims to receive compensation from the settlement. The affected users were rumoured to start receiving payments earlier this year.
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