Apple Wins Lawsuit Against South Korean Users Over Alleged Slowing Down iPhone Performance

Back in 2018, about ten thousand (10,000) South Korean iPhone users instituted a lawsuit against Apple for deliberately slowing down the performance of old iPhones, indirectly forcing them to buy new iPhones. Unfortunately, the case has been lost to Apple.

Delivering the judgement today, the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea ruled against the 9,851 iPhone users who sued Apple but did not give specific reasons for the decision. At the same time, the court also ordered the plaintiffs to pay their legal costs, as reported by Yonhap News Agency.

In the lawsuit filed, the plaintiffs allege that Apple deliberately concealed that iPhone batteries might struggle to run the latest iOS software. Instead of recalling the phone or offering a replacement battery, the company is advising users to download the latest software update. 

Hence, the plaintiffs claimed that their iPhones experienced performance degradation after the update. According to the report, the affected phones are understood to be the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7.

In 2017, Apple was accused of deliberately reducing the performance of iPhone models to ensure that the battery life of the device met demand. Initially, the mobile giant denied deliberately reducing iPhone performance but later admitted that it did so to protect battery life, and argued that the purpose of the measure was not to get users to buy new phones.

According to a statement from the law firm Hannuri, which represented the users, said the decision clearly showed the limits of the local judicial system, which required the filing of evidence before a trial and lacked a class action framework. The law firm stated that it would consider filing an appeal.

Aside from this lawsuit, it is also reported that a total of more than 62,000 Korean users have filed similar lawsuits against Apple, demanding compensation of ₩12.7 billion, and the average amount of compensation sought by each user is ₩200,000.