Image credit – iFixit
As you might have heard, Apple has been hit with as many as eight lawsuits over the iPhone battery scandal, in which Apple admitted that they did release a software update that slowed down iPhones with aging batteries. However it looks like the lawsuits do not plan on stopping as new lawsuits have since been filed against Apple in France and South Korea.
The lawsuit in France was filed by an activist group called Halte à l’Obsolescence Programmée (HOP) which stands for “Stop Planned Obsolescence”. The lawsuit alleges that “Apple has put in place a global strategy of programmed obsolescence in order to boost its sales,” and also bases the lawsuit on a law introduced in France in 2015 that makes it a crime for companies to purposely reduce the lifespan of a product in order to increase the rate of replacements.
According to Laetitia Vasseur, the co-founder of HOP, “Everything is organized to force consumers to renew their smartphones. However, when the phone is priced at 1,200 euros ($1,434.00), which is more than the SMIC (the minimum monthly wage in France), these practices are unacceptable and must be punished. It is our mission to defend consumers and the environment against this waste organized by Apple.”
Over in South Korea, it seems that two class-action lawsuits have been planned and that law firms are now recruiting plaintiffs. That being said, Apple has since issued an apology on how it handled the situation, and also announced a new battery replacement program which will see the cost of battery replacements reduce to $29. The company will also issue an update to iOS that will provide users with better visibility with regards to the health of their batteries.
Filed in . Read more about iPhone, Legal and Social Hit.