Apple has Been Hit with a New Lawsuit About Tweaking the iphone — What You Need To Know

Apple has Been Hit with a New Lawsuit About Tweaking the iphone — What You Need To Know

[This time from Altroconsumo, the Italian consumer protection agency, regarding what it calls "planned obsolescence" of older iPhones.

This relates to a controversy a few years ago in which Apple admitted to intentionally reducing the performance of older iPhones in order to prevent battery obsolescence. Apple actually called it a feature. Of course, many consumers believed that Apple was artificially inserting pain points through software updates to induce users to upgrade.

According to TechCrunch, the class action lawsuit seeks 60 million euros for affected customers. This includes owners of the iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus, and 6s Plus. This would mean that customers would be compensated an average of at least €60.

With Italy's latest lawsuit, Apple is not out of legal trouble yet. Portugal plans to file its own lawsuit in the near future. Last year, Apple had to pay $500 million to settle in the U.S. The company denied wrongdoing.

Euroconsumers, a group of five European consumer organizations, actually created a video to rally support for a class action lawsuit. It is well done, if a bit tongue-in-cheek.

"Not only have consumers been deceived and had to face frustration and financial damage, but it is also completely irresponsible from an environmental point of view," said Els Bruggemann, head of policy and enforcement at Euroconsumers, in a press release. This new lawsuit is the latest front in our fight against planned obsolescence in Europe. Our demand is simple: American consumers have been compensated, but we want European consumers to be treated with the same fairness and respect."

The class action lawsuit has just been filed and could take years to litigate. If you own an iPhone 6 in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Belgium, or Italy, bookmark the Euroconsumers website or follow the organization on Twitter or LinkedIn for updates on compensation.

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