14 DAY TRIAL // Apple’s legal trouble caused by the deliberate iPhone slowdowns acknowledged in late December continue, and this time the company is being investigated by Israel’s consumer watchdog.
While the probe is still in its early days, the country’s Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority said it’s also considering fines should Apple be found guilty of violating local rules, though the agency explains it’s way too early to discuss the outcome of the investigation.
A report from Reuters reveals that Apple’s head in Israel, Rony Friedman, has already been questioned by the investigators, but the company refused to provide any information regarding the case.
Investigations also started by Italy, South Korea, and France
Israel isn’t the only country that’s investigating a possible violation of consumer regulations and planned obsolescence, as several other states launched similar probes, including France, Italy, and South Korea. More than 60,000 iPhone owners also filed a lawsuit against Apple in South Korea as part of a class action suit.
Apple acknowledged in late December that it deliberately slowed down older iPhone models with degraded batteries in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns. The behavior was introduced with iOS 11, and devices running on worn-out batteries experienced reduced CPU power.
“With the update, iOS dynamically manages the maximum performance of some system components when needed to prevent a shutdown. While these changes may go unnoticed, in some cases users may experience longer launch times for apps and other reductions in performance,” Apple said.
This approach, however, caused a huge wave of criticism against Apple, and many accused the company of planned obsolescence, as some customers purchased new iPhones because they considered the old ones to be too slow. Apple, however, launched a battery replacement program with a discounted price from $79 to $29, and is also offering a new option in iOS 11.3 that allows users to disable the performance throttling.