Apple will have to face a court in the UK, in a case regarding years-old “Batterygate” issues with older generation iPhones.
The case seeks £853 million in compensation for people who bought iPhones only to find they ended up with throttled performance as the battery aged.
Even if you are a tech fan, Apple’s Batterygate may seem little more than a distant memory.
This issue emerged in 2016, years before Covid and the current cost-of-living crisis, in the era of the iPhone 6S.
iPhone owners reported models such as the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6 appeared to slow down as they got older. Apple admitted this was indeed the case, and not a Reddit conspiracy theory, in 2017.
At the time, an Apple spokesperson said the tactic was used to “prolong the life” of phones. It suggested older batteries could struggle to supply the power required of a maxed-out processor when at lower charge levels.
This did not fly with US courts. A class action lawsuit in the US was eventually settled in July 2020, resulting in a redemption scheme that let owners of impacted iPhones claim $25 (around £21), equating to costs estimated at up to $500 million (about £410m).
Apple was told to pay an additional $113 million, roughly £92 million, in November 2020. A further US case settled in August 2023 is expected to see its claimants receive up to $65 (around £53).
The UK claim that has just been given a tentative green light to proceed was filed in July 2022 by law firm Charles Lydon on behalf of Justin Gutmann.
"There remains a lack of clarity and specificity in the PCR’s case," reads the Competition Appeal Tribunal on its recent notes on the case. "This impacts both the questions of the existence of abuse and the manner in which loss to the class is to be assessed."
The case refers to "iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus" models, but not the iPhone 8 family and iPhone X generations, which have in the past been included in batterygate cases.
“Instead of doing the honourable and legal thing by their customers and offering a free replacement, repair service, or compensation, Apple instead misled people by concealing a tool in software updates that slowed their devices by up to 58 per cent,” Gutmann said in 2022.
The case has been approved to commence proceedings by the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
“The proposed class is likely to include at least 26.1 million iPhone users in the UK, who have suffered harm and substantial aggregate losses from Apple’s concealment of battery issues and its decision to slow down the processors in approximately 44.2 million iPhones,” reads the tribunal document.
It is not clear why it took the UK action so long to be filed. Other cases have long been solved. France fined Apple €25 million (around £22m) in 2020, while an Italian suit in 2021 sought €60 million (around £52m) in compensation.
What has Apple said?
Under the settlement, Apple did not admit to any wrongdoing.
They also agreed to provide "truthful information" about iPhone power management across its website, software update notes, and iPhone settings for the next three years.
In a statement prior to the US case, Apple had said: “We have never, and would never, do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.
“Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.”
The tech giant had previously apologised for its lack of communication and dropped the price of battery replacements in 2018.
Apple has not publicly commented on the settlement. It had appealed, but an appeals court in the US dismissed the case.
Apple has been contacted for comment by the Evening Standard on the UK case.
