Apple is facing lawsuits over its policy of slowing down older iPhones

Steve Kovach

• Apple admitted this week that it intentionally slowed down older iPhones, something long suspected by iPhone users.
• The company claimed it was to stop phones with degraded batteries from shutting down unexpectedly - and not to push frustrated customers into upgrading.
• The admission has still outraged Apple fans, who feel the company has covered the practice up deceptively.
• Two class-action lawsuits have been filed in the US against Apple, with one suit describing the firm as "deceptive, moral, and unethical."

Apple is currently facing two class-action lawsuits, filed by furious customers just days after the firm admitted to intentionally slowing down older iPhones.

We first saw news of the lawsuits via AppleInsider.

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According to the Chicago SunTimes, the latest suit was filed on Thursday and involves five customers from Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, and Indiana who own models ranging from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 7. They accuse Apple of "deceptive, moral, and unethical" practices, and claim the firm engineered iOS updates to "purposefully slow down or 'throttle down' the performance speeds" of the iPhone 5, iPhone 6 and iPhone 7."

An earlier lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles by Stefan Bogdanovich, claims the practice of slowing down phones causes users to suffer. His case is predominantly focused on the iPhone 7. Bogdanovich believes that Apple intentionally slowed down older iPhones in order to force people to upgrade, though Apple has said this isn't the reason.

Apple hasn't commented on the suits.

iPhone owners have long noticed that their devices seem to slow down over time, and that replacing the battery seems to boost performance. Apple admitted on Wednesday that it did slow down phones as part of a new power management feature, but not to force people to upgrade. Instead it's to stop iPhones from drawing more power from the battery than the battery is capable of, and thereby preventing sudden shutdowns.

The firm has faced huge criticism for not being more transparent about the power management feature. While slower ageing batteries isn't the company's fault, the firm's secrecy is likely to spark distrust among even its most devoted fans.