Apple is facing another lawsuit for the infamous “Batterygate” controversy, this time in the United Kingdom. The Guardian reports that consumer rights advocate Justin Gutman has filed a lawsuit against the Competition Appeals Tribunal seeking £ 768m in damages.
“I’m launching this case so that millions of iPhone users across the UK will be able to recover from Apple’s actions,” Gutman said. “I hope influential companies will re-evaluate their business models and refrain from such behavior.”
If the claim is successful, the compensation pool will be shared among owners of damaged iPhones across the UK, with one group believing the number to be 25 million.
The issue dates back to 2017 when benchmarkers reported a decline in the performance of the iPhone 6 and 7 once they installed some iOS version numbers in the past. Apple later confirmed that it had intentionally throtled performance on older handsets to protect battery life, apologized, explained that replacing the battery would restore performance to its previous level, and waived such replacements.
But many users were dissatisfied with the response, complaining that they were not informed that Apple was reducing the performance of their device or giving them the option to stop the effect and enjoy the results. (Apple has added a toggle to it in later versions of iOS.) The company has since sued.
In 2020, Apple settled a class-action lawsuit in the United States, agreeing to pay up to m 500m; An additional $ 113 million was ordered later in the same year. And throughout 2020 and 2021 the company faced compensation claims from five European consumer organizations and was fined a total of € 70 million (approximately $ 73 million) in Italy.
To qualify for a share of the damages – assuming the verdict goes against Apple, or the company agrees to a settlement – you must buy an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, SE (UK) 2016), 7, 7 Plus , 8, 8 plus or x.
Guttman hired Charles Lyndon to claim the services. If the verdict is in his favor, you can contact the law firm using the phone number and email address listed on his contact page.