Company questioned by China in degraded battery fiasco

Jan 16, 2018 08:58 GMT  ·  By

The iPhone slowdown fiasco won’t come to an end anytime soon, as Apple is now being questioned by China as well regarding the decision to reduce the performance of its devices due to degraded batteries.

Apple admitted in December that it slowed down older iPhones with worn-out batteries in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns. This announcement was received with much criticism from consumer organizations and users alike, as the reduced performance of iPhones pushed many users towards new models simply because Apple was hiding the fact that a quick battery replacement would have addressed the problems.

Cupertino is now being required by a Chinese consumer group to provide “an explanation for the slowdown,” according to a Reuters report.

While it’s not clear at this point if there’s anything else that Apple could share besides the public letter the company published last month, the Shanghai Consumer Council wants an answer by this Friday, asking the firm to also detail how it plans to deal with the issues.

Apple questioned in the US and South Korea

Apple said in its public letter that the iOS 10.2.1 update that reduced performance of devices with worn-out batteries impacted the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and iPhone SE, while iOS 11.2 added such functionality on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus as well.

iPhone 7 Plus was the second best-selling smartphone in China last year, according to Counterpoint Research, with no less than 2.8 percent of all phone sales in the country throughout 2017.

Apple has also been questioned over iPhone slowdowns in the United States and in Korea, while France moved even further with an investigation against the company that could lead to a hefty fine in the country.

At the same time, there are more than 20 class-action lawsuits against Apple at this point, one of which is calling for the company to pay no less than $999 billion in damages following the deliberate iPhone slowdown.