Apple recently paid a €25 million fine in France. Specifically, the fine was imposed on Apple by a non-governmental organization for the protection of French consumers, alleging that the company failed to inform consumers that upgrading the company's mobile operating system would slow down older iOS.
The Directorate-General for Competition, Consumption and the Fight against Fraud (DGCCRF), which is part of the French Ministry of Finance, has revealed its conclusions regarding the specific Apple case. In detail, following an investigation by the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumption and the Fight against Fraud (DGCCRF) and an agreement with the Paris Prosecutor, the Apple team agreed to pay the €25 million fine as it was considered to have committed a criminal offense.
The DGCCRF, after taking on the Apple case on January 5, 2018, following an order from the Paris prosecutor's office, and investigating the complaint that Apple was called upon to address, revealed that iPhone owners were not aware that the iOS operating system updates (10.2.1 and 11.2) were very likely to slow down the operation of their device. These updates, which were released in 2017, contained a dynamic power management device, which, under certain conditions and especially when the batteries were old, could slow down the operation of the iPhone 6, SE and 7 models.
Apple was quick to respond, noting that the updates in question were slowing down some older iPhones with degraded batteries during peak power usage to prevent unexpected outages. Apple also apologized for the incomplete and inaccurate information it provided to customers who were forced to pay for iPhone battery replacements. The company has always maintained that the features are designed to increase and preserve the life of iPhones as much as possible and were not implemented to force upgrades.
