Apple fights £1.6bn UK court case over battery throttling

In the latest 'Batterygate' case, Apple urges the Competition Appeal Tribunal to block a class action-style lawsuit seeking to compensate UK iPhone users for reduced performance

Apple is fighting to block a lawsuit concerning its battery throttling practices half a decade ago. The lawsuit, brought by consumer rights campaigner Justin Gutmann on behalf of iPhone owners in the UK, alleges that Apple deliberately throttled the performance of iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X models in order to hide the fact that their batteries were defective.

On Tuesday, Gutmann asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal to certify the case, meaning that it can proceed to trial. If the case is passed by the tribunal, it will be heard in a London court and could cost the tech giant $1.6 billion in compensation to millions of affected iPhone users.

It would be the latest legal action brought against Apple for the so called "Batterygate" scandal, in which the company allegedly sought to cover up a batch of defective batteries by introducing a software update that prevented phones from drawing power when low on charge. This update had the effect of slowing the performance of the phones, and cutting out when on low power, which first brought to public attention noticed by a Reddit user in 2017.

Apple has been sued over the issue in several countries, including the US, where it paid $113 million and $500 million to settle cases in Arizona and California, respectively.

Critics charged Apple with pursuing a policy of planned obsolescence, with the aim of persuading consumers to upgrade their batteries or purchase a new phone as their devices slowed.

Apple acknowledged the issue, stating that the update "smoothed out" the peaks in processing power that were causing shutdowns - but not until December 2017 after months of complaints from users.

The company then offered a £25 plus shipping battery replacement service for certain iPhone models, but Gutmann claims that Apple failed to sufficiently publicise this service and abused its dominant market position.

The case brought by Gutmann says that Apple made changes to its software in order to hide the fact that its batteries were defective.

"Instead of doing the honourable and legal thing by their customers and offering a free replacement, repair service or compensation, Apple instead misled people by concealing a tool in software updates that slowed their devices by up to 58%," he said, on filing his case with the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal last summer.

Apple has described the case as "baseless", saying that defective batteries were only present in a few devices, and that those customers were sent replacements free of change or at a reduced fee. It denies misleading its customers, and claims performance on low charge was only reduced by about 10% by the software update.

Reuters reports Apple lawyer David Wolfson as saying in a statement to the court the lawsuit effectively alleges that "not all batteries could deliver the peak power demanded in all circumstances at all times," as is the case with all devices powered by Li-ion sources.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal will likely decide whether the case should proceed in the next few days.