Last year, Apple made a sizzling “speed-down” of some of its smartphones. This change down-clocks the CPU’s performance on iPhone devices with lower battery health to avoid excessive battery consumption. While it appears that the company had a good intention for its users with low battery health, these consumers paid heavily for these products thus they have the right to decide whether to have a lower CPU performance when their battery is low.
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It turned out that many iPhone users did not fancy this move by Apple because the company silently enabled this feature. Subsequently, Apple apologized and launched a battery health self-check in iOS 11.3 and allowed to unlock peak performance. It also introduced a low-cost battery replacement service. However, it was too late to act as the company has already been hit by multiple lawsuits.
According to a document submitted to the SEC last week, Apple has now drawn up a contingency payment plan for these cases. Of course, Apple insists that they are not misleading consumers, the iPhone is not flawed, and the follow-up response is to improve the user experience. It now appears that Apple is set to lose the case. If it does, the exact amount to be paid is not known. A vast majority of complaints have been merged into a collective lawsuit in the California District Court.