Apple began reimbursing iPhone users in the U.S. after it was sued for slowing down devices.
The tech giant was forced to fork out a whopping $500 million — or £394 million — settlement after it was found to have made older devices batteries slower.
Apple profusely denied the claim but agreed to the payout.
In the U.K., Apple could end up paying another £1.6 billion — or almost $1.8 billion — in compensation.
Consumer rights champion Justin Gutmann filed a claim with the Competition Appeal Tribunal accusing Apple of intentionally hiding a power management tool in software updates. The process is called throttling.
“Instead of doing the honorable 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 percent. I’m launching this case so that millions of iPhone users across the U.K. will receive redress for the harm suffered by Apple’s actions,” Mr. Gutmann said.
“If this case is successful, I hope dominant companies will re-evaluate their business models and refrain from this kind of conduct,” he added.
“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,” Apple said in a statement. “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.”
