UK Court Denies Apple’s Request to Dismiss iPhone Class Action Lawsuit
Apple Inc. has been unsuccessful in its attempt to have a London class action lawsuit, which alleges that the company deceived customers regarding a contentious power management feature in iPhones, dismissed.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal, the court that hears collective proceedings in the UK, ruled that the class action can now be provisionally opened, according to Wednesday’s decision. Apple’s lawyers had asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that the devices in question were inferior.
The suit alleges that Apple abused its dominant market position by telling customers that software updates in late 2016 improved the devices’ battery life, when in reality it allegedly quietly “throttled” it.
“We have never — and never will — do anything to shorten the life of any Apple product or degrade the user experience to encourage customers to upgrade,” an Apple spokesperson said after the decision.
Justin Gutmann, a market researcher bringing the suit on behalf of UK iPhone users, said Apple hid a power management tool in the updates to hide the fact that the phone’s batteries could not handle the demands of handling the new software.
“This paves the way for millions of consumers who were left paying for battery replacements or new phone models to get the compensation they deserve,” Gutmann said sadly in his statement.
