In less than two weeks sinceadmittingto deliberately slowing down older iPhone models with worn-out batteries, nearly 30 class action lawsuits have so far been filed against Apple, highlighting just how badly the company has handled the whole situation.
Canadian outletPatentlyApple’s been followingthose lawsuits closely, having counted as many as 27 different class actions filed against Apple as of Monday. One of the lawsuitssoughta ridiculous payout of $999 billion, with the latest casesfiledin San Francisco and Brooklyn.
Additional lawsuits are reportedly pending, meaning by the time you read this the number of legal proceedings filed over the iPhone throttling debacle could easily zoom past 30.
Many of the plaintiffs allege that Apple has been purposely slowing down older iPhones through software updates to presumably encourage sales of new iPhones, giving fuel to the longstanding conspiracy theory of planned obsolescence.
Appleapologizedfor not communicating to its customers how the recent changes in iOS impacted CPU performance on iPhone 6, iPhone 7 and iPhone SE models with older batteries.
TUTORIAL:How to check if your iPhone’s battery needs replacing
As an olive branch to the disgruntled customers, Apple has temporarilyslashedthe price of its out-of-warranty battery replacement program to $29 from $79 throughout 2018.
All customers that request a battery replacement will get one, regardless of the results of the battery diagnosis tests run directly on the device, the iPhone makersaid.
However, a Brazilian state agencyrequiredadditional clarity on the matter, having notified the Cupertino technology firm last week that it must explain how Brazilian iPhone owners will be able to purchase battery replacements at lower prices.
