Apple faces iPhone tribunal showdown which could leave millions of consumers in line for compensation
Apple attempted to conceal documents showing it deliberately throttled the performance of older iPhones; A court hearing starting this week will make a move that, if successful, could leave millions of UK consumers facing compensation claims.
On Friday, the UK Competition Appeal Court will hear lawyers for a class-action lawsuit arguing that the tech giant is trying to avoid publishing information showing it chose to use software updates to ‘throttle’ older iPhones in a bid to hide problems with their batteries.
They argue Apple is trying to hide this from UK consumers, citing commercial sensitivity.
Apple responded by saying it had the right to keep commercially sensitive information publicly available for legal reasons.
The technology giant led by Tim Cook has tried and failed many times since the lawsuit was launched in 2022; The trial will be held next year.
Lawyers believe the claim could cost Apple up to £956 million if successful, leaving 21 million people using iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 7 and 7 Plus stuck in the payment queue. It is estimated that each person could receive compensation of £40.
Fight back: Apple hits back, saying it has the right not to keep commercially sensitive information public for legal reasons
This was a case that Apple resolved in 2020 with a compensation fund of approximately $ 500 million, following a similar case in the USA, but Apple did not accept any liability.
Consumer campaigner Justin Gutmann, who is leading the UK class action, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘My claim alleges that Apple has abused its dominant position on behalf of millions of iPhone users. A key aspect of this abuse was its lack of transparency to customers.
‘Years later, it’s hard to understand why Apple is still trying to keep the evidence away from the public.
‘If Apple has good reasons for its conduct, it should clearly present those allegations in court, as other defendants must do.’
An Apple spokesperson said: ‘We have never and will never do anything to deliberately shorten the life of any Apple product or worsen the user experience to encourage customer upgrades.
‘Our goal has always been to create products our customers love, and making sure iPhones last as long as possible is a key part of that.’
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