Apple (Finally) Gets Fined for Throttling Old iPhones

You may recall that around 3 years ago, it was discovered that Apple was, very deliberately, throttling the performance of its older iPhone releases. At the time, the initial reaction was that this was a very cynical move by the company to attempt to get people to adopt their more modern designs. After a lot of pressure though, Apple finally admitted that although throttling did occur, it wasn’t for this reason.

Instead, they claim they did it because they had concerns that the aging batteries would no longer be able to cope with the smartphones. Specifically, when ‘peak’ power draws were made. As such, they throttled back the performance to try and extend the battery’s lifespan.

To be honest, though, I think the truth is probably something closer to a combination of the two. Apple wanted you to upgrade, but they also probably didn’t want iPhone 6’s going flat within 4 hours!

Apple Gets Fined £21m for iPhone Throttling

Since this point, to date, very few consumer Watchdogs have gone to the point of actually fining Apple for this. In a report via the BBC, however, France’s competition and fraud watchdog (DGCCRF) has just confirmed that they will be fining them £21m. Better late than never, right?

While not specifically commenting on the whole ‘throttling’ business, the Watchdog group concluded that Apple was wrong to not inform its consumers and, by proxy, not giving them the option to opt-out of having their iPhone’s performance reduced.

What Do We Think?

Whether you choose to believe Apple’s excuse or not, there is one inescapable truth. It was wrong of them to do it without telling their customers. I mean, let’s be honest, how many people spent money, potentially unnecessarily, just because their iPhone’s performance wasn’t as good as they remembered it to be? A fair few I would imagine!

While Apple has promised to avoid this practice again in the future, they should be fined. I’m just disappointed it was only this much! Then again, at least France’s Watchdog actually did do something about it!

What do you think? Did this experience have any effect on your latest smartphone purchase? – Let us know in the comments!