What is the U.K. iPhone 'throttling' lawsuit against Apple?

Understanding the U.K. iPhone 'throttling' suit Tech expert Avery Swartz speaks to CTV's Your Morning about a $2-billion lawsuit in London accusing Apple of 'throttling' its iPhones.

Batterygate is back in the news as Apple looks to block a lawsuit in the United Kingdom accusing the company of "throttling" the performance of its iPhones.

Apple last week urged a London tribunal to block a US$2-billion lawsuit that accuses the iPhone maker of hiding defective batteries in certain phone models, in a controversy that dates back years. The company denies it misled customers.

"You know, Apple called it 'smoothing,' with the idea that they were not going to pull so much energy from the battery, and what this really means at the end of the day is your phone is slower," tech expert Avery Swartz told CTV's Your Morning on Monday.

Lawyers for Justin Gutmann, who sued on behalf of iPhone users in the U.K., argued in court fillings that Apple concealed issues with batteries in certain models and "surreptitiously" installed a power management tool that limited performance.

Apple apologized in 2017, saying it would never "do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades."

It claimed the move was necessary to avoid unexpected shutdowns related to battery fatigue.

But customers have accused the company of trying to encourage consumers to buy newer iPhone models, a practice sometimes referred to as "planned obsolescence."

Apple cut the price of a battery replacement for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later.

The company also settled lawsuits in the U.S. dating back to 2020, including a settlement of up to US$500-million in California and a US$113-million settlement in Arizona.

"They're saying that you know this doesn't need to move forward, because of course they would," Swartz said. "It's up to $2 billion in a class-action lawsuit. They want to stop it."

Watch the full interview with Avery Swartz at the top of the article. With files from Reuters, The Associated Press and AFP