Apple battery class action overview:
- Who: A consumer advocate sued Apple for £853 million on behalf of UK iPhone owners.
- Why: The plaintiff says millions of people with Apple devices were affected by battery issues and slowdowns in their phones due to Apple’s concealment of battery issues.
- Where: The class action was filed in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal.
UK iPhone owners who say their devices were affected by battery issues and slowdowns sued Apple for £853 million.
In a notice released Sep. 14 by the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, plaintiff Justin Gutmann, a consumer advocate, says he wishes to bring collective proceedings against Apple on behalf of at least 26.1 million iPhone users.
Gutmann claims the users “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.”
He alleges that Apple has “leveraged and abused” its position of dominance on related hardware and software markets by engaging in a series of exploitative and unfair commercial practices that have caused “widespread harm” to its customers in the UK, according to the Apple class action.
Apple class action alleges company practiced unfair trading practices
Over a number of years, starting from at least September 2016 with the release of iOS version 10, Apple leveraged its dominant positions between the hardware market and the software market in the UK through alleged unfair and misleading commercial practices, the Apple class action alleges.
Gutmann claims that since 2015, Apple was aware that some iPhone models contained defective lithium ion batteries. The batteries could not deliver the power required by the phone’s processing units and operating systems, causing the phones to stall or shut down abruptly.
Customers were subjected to unfair trading practices because operating system updates were allegedly “pre-installed or downloaded and installed automatically” to the affected iPhones without an opportunity to make an informed decision about whether to download them, the Apple class action alleges.
As a result, their phones were updated with a “power management feature,” which sought to manage the battery issues but actually slowed down the phone’s performance, the lawsuit states.
The total value of the losses due to reduced functionality of some of the affected iPhones is estimated to be at least £853 million, excluding interest, according to the Apple class action.
Meanwhile, Apple is disputing a £1.5 billion class action claim in the UK that the company charges excessive fees on its App Store and commits competition violations.
Were you affected by the allegations in this Apple battery class action lawsuit? Let us know your experience in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Charles Lyndon Ltd.
The Apple battery class action lawsuit is Justin Gutmann v. Apple Inc., Apple Distribution International Ltd. and Apple Retail UK Ltd., Case No. 1468/7/7/22, in the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
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