A European consumer group turned up the heat on Apple, filing a third class action lawsuit accusing the vendor of throttling iPhone performance and demanding millions in compensation for affected consumers.
The Euroconsumers’ legal action in Italy seeks average compensation of €60 for each user affected by the “planned obsolescence” of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S and 6S Plus, up to a total of €60 million.
In a statement, the organisation noted the case builds on lawsuits filed in Belgium and Spain in December 2020. It plans to initiate a fourth case in Portugal “in the coming weeks”.
Els Bruggeman, head of policy and enforcement at Euroconsumers, argued the vendor “defrauded” users and subjected them to “frustration and financial harm”, stating “our ask is simple: American consumers received compensation, European consumers want to be treated with the same fairness and respect”.
The group previously said it decided to take legal action after failing to resolve the issue with Apple out of court.
In 2020, Apple agreed to pay a total of $613 million to settle US lawsuits related to the matter, and was fined €25 million by French competition authorities over the same issue.
The company stated in 2018 it would never “do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades”. mobileworldlive
