Apple Showered With Lawsuits After Admission Of Sabotaging Older iPhones

When it was discovered last week that Apple had been slowing down older models of its iPhones, the company faced a flurry of demand from consumers looking for answers. In response to the outcry, the Cupertino firm admitted that this was indeed the case. The act prompted a barrage of lawsuits from disgruntled buyers who felt cheated by the company.

Many of the consumers who were outraged by the development took to social media to vent their frustrations at what they consider is a huge violation of their rights and trust, The Huffington Post reports. Some argue that they should have received notifications while others merely scoffed at the excuses that the company presented for sabotaging its older phones.

Apple made the admission on Wednesday last week and on Thursday, it was facing two class-action lawsuits filed in California and Illinois. The lawsuit filed in Chicago called the practice “deceptive, immoral and unethical.”

The lawsuit from California was actually by two law students and they argued that the update, which slowed the performance in older iPhones was installed without permission. In their mind, this is Apple’s way of forcing its consumers to upgrade to newer models or suffer using a device that gets slower with age.

As of writing, Apple is looking at five class-action lawsuits, Patently Apple reports. One of the latest was submitted by Nicole Gallman, who filed the suit at the Northern District Court of California. In the documents, it was noted that the consumers who were suing Apple are actually long-time buyers of Apple’s products.

“Plaintiff and Class Members are Apple iPhone users. Many Class Members are not new to the iPhone franchise, but are loyal followers of Apple, having purchased various iterations of the mobile device. Because Apple failed to informed consumers that the performance issues were artificially caused by the iOS update in conjunction with an older (but still perfectly functional) battery, consumers were denied the opportunity to make an informed decision regarding whether to upgrade their device or instead simply replace the battery,” the lawsuit reads.