What is Behind Apple's Slowing Down of Users' Devices?

In courts and on social media platforms, the American giant, Apple, is still paying the price for the practices it has taken to maximize its profits by slowing down its old devices, in order to push users to buy the newer versions.

Interestingly enough, Apple was doing these practices while it was on top of the world’s companies in terms of market value until May 2022.

It was also the largest information technology company in terms of revenue, with a total of $365.8 billion in 2021.

This becomes comprehensible when it is measured within the framework of commodification and consumption of everything established by capitalism that does not care much about human values ​​and morals but only profit and loss.

Capitalism considers the first path as the basis for action and relies on that to adopt its policy, even if it is based on deception.

International human rights circles assert that Apple generates 84% of its annual revenue from selling new devices, and the old systems, programs, and batteries represent a great financial burden on the company, so it seeks to curb this through the suspicious updates it rolls out.

 

New Scandal

On June 16, 2022, the British consumer rights activist, Justin Gutmann, said he had filed a lawsuit against Apple at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London, on the grounds of misleading up to 25 million iPhone users in the United Kingdom.

He explained via his Twitter account that the American company was involved in concealing a power management tool in iOS updates that slowed devices by up to 58%.

Commenting on the lawsuit, the BBC revealed, on the same day, that millions of iPhone users are eligible for financial compensation after Apple was accused of deliberately slowing the performance of old phones secretly.

It explained that Guttman stated in the lawsuit that Apple misled users about an update that it said would boost phones' performance and protect them from sudden shutdowns, but in fact slowed them down, and did so to avoid refunds or repairs to expensive phones.

It noted that the lawsuit seeks damages of about 768 million pounds ($941 million) to up to 25 million iPhone users in the United Kingdom.

The lawsuit is optional, which means clients will not need to join the case to receive damages, according to the BBC.

At the same time, Guttman launched a website on the lawsuit, theiphoneclaim.com, in which he explained which versions were entitled to get compensation.

According to the website, the lawsuit includes iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 6SE, iPhone 7, 7 Plus, iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X versions.

Daily Mail also explained that the lawsuit relates to the update that reached iPhone users in January 2017, and was intended to slow down several versions of the company's phones.

On June 16, the newspaper reported that these phones contained old batteries, and may have been having problems updating the operating system.

Gutman explained that Apple did this circumvention to hide the fact that iPhone batteries may have found it difficult to run the latest iOS software, and instead of recovering those phones or offering replacement batteries, the company pushed users to download software updates.

 

Unfortunate Approach

Guttman's lawsuit in Britain comes two years after Apple concluded two similar lawsuits in the United States and France, through which it was forced to pay millions of dollars to users until international criticism of its policies stopped.

Reuters revealed on March 2, 2020, that Apple signed a settlement in a California court, according to which it agreed to pay a maximum of half a billion dollars, and a minimum of 310 million dollars, in payments to iPhone users affected by the slowness of their devices in the United States.

The amount of the fine varies depending on the number of people involved in the complaint so that you pay less per person if the total fines exceed the limit.

However, if the number of complainants is less, the amount of $310 million will be distributed, after deducting 93 million in legal fees.

In February 2020, Apple also agreed to pay $27 million imposed by the French Competition and Fraud Authority, after it was accused of deliberately slowing down old iPhones.

The authority explained that the American company is deliberately pushing the phone battery to slow down, as well as the processor, to force its users to upgrade to newer versions before they are needed, according to the specialized technical website Engadget.

It pointed out that Apple did not accept the settlement until after international reports pressured it and exposed its flawed procedures.

After years of rumors, Apple admitted, in a commercial and technology bombshell, that it slowed down phones with old and poorly charged batteries.

It claimed, through a statement published by The Guardian on December 21, 2017, that it did so to extend the life of the devices, improve performance, and protect against the many problems caused by old batteries.

It added that when the battery becomes weak, it is no longer able to give the highest current requested by the processor when it is working at full speed. If this happens, the phone shuts down without warning to protect the internal components.

This statement explained that thousands of iPhones suddenly stopped working despite the presence of about 30-40 percent of the charge in the battery.

 

Continuous Losses

However, Apple's argument did not convince its phone users, who expressed their dissatisfaction with the company, for the lack of transparency in explaining the reasons until the increasing global pressure on it, according to the BGR technical website.

Only a few days passed from Apple's confession until users began filing lawsuits again, the first of which was on December 21, accusing the company of causing a decrease in the value of its phones when reselling them and forcing users to upgrade their phones.

The website indicated on February 27, 2018, that Apple deals with 60 cases in the United States and abroad.

To get out of this impasse, in early 2018, Apple announced a new battery replacement service, which enabled device owners without warranty to order new batteries at a discounted price of $29, instead of $79.

Claire, an analyst at British research firm Enders, said cases against Apple may continue to emerge, given the technical limitations of the old batteries.

She told the BBC that technology in newer devices is improving at breakneck speed, but it is not on a consistent path, which creates problems when releasing software updates that often have to work on devices with vastly different capabilities.

Claire said that Apple generates 84 percent of its revenue from selling new devices, which makes it reluctant to hold back updates to ensure older versions.

Until hardware issues and software updates that are beyond the capabilities of aging batteries are resolved, this challenge will be repeated, according to her.

While others are shocked because of these practices, which are an integral part of the capitalist culture generated from the concept of liberalism, and whose manifestations are spreading in all aspects of life today.

Researcher Karim Atef said that when someone looks at the commercial advertisements spread everywhere, it becomes clear that they pay great attention to promoting consumer culture, addressing desires, and portraying the happiness and well-being that will happen to those who buy these products.