Over the years, Apple has crafted a reputation for itself. You pay them all your money, and they provide you with a device you can flaunt and be proud of. So what happens when they¡¯re still demanding money but the quality of service has dropped? People get mad, obviously.?
After it emerged last week that Apple was purposely slowing down older iPhones, supposedly in order to preserve the battery life, the lawsuits began pouring in. After admitting the news was true, Apple is now facing a total of nine lawsuits in various federal courts.?
Class-action lawsuits filed in California, New York, and Illinois mean millions of iPhone owners can jump on the bandwagon and demand compensation for being cheated out of their money. One lawsuit, filed last week in San Francisco, claims the battery¡¯s inability to handle the smartphone processor¡¯s demands over time could be seen as a defect. ¡°Rather than curing the battery defect by providing a free battery replacement for all affected iPhones, Apple sought to mask the battery defect,¡± the lawsuit said.
Another lawsuit has also been filed in Israel, with two plaintiffs demanding $120 million.
People may have been willing to accept the fact that their battery¡¯s charging capability goes down after a while. After all, we know lithium ion cells don¡¯t last forever, but Apple messed up in two major ways. For one, it defaulted to slowing down older iPhones with its code module, instead of letting users choose between speed or battery life. The excuse that it was to ¡°protect internal components¡± also seems like it was just a way to avoid mass warranty claims if that¡¯s true.?
More importantly, Apple kept the issue and it¡¯s ¡°solution¡± secret until a third party discovered it in tests. And if there¡¯s one thing they should have learned by now, it¡¯s that people hate being lied to by tech companies. Especially one they¡¯ve been giving money to for years.