What you need to know
- Apple is facing another "batterygate" lawsuit in Italy now.
- The suit focusing on Apple's move to throttle performance on the iPhone 6 to preserve battery life.
As reported by TechCrunch, Apple has been hit with another "batterygate" class action lawsuit in Europe. Italy's Altroconsumo consumer protection agency accuses Apple of "planned obsolescence" with a number of iPhone 6 models.
The class action suit in Italy is seeking €60 million in compensation — based on at least €60 in average compensation per iPhone owner. Affected devices named in the suit are the iPhone 6, 6s, 6 Plus and 6s Plus, per a press release put out by the umbrella consumer organization Euroconsumers, which counts Altroconsumo as a member.
Els Bruggeman, Euroconsumers' head of policy and enforcement, says that consumers were "defrauded" from Apple's decision to slow down iPhone 6 performance in order to maintain battery life.
"When consumers buy Apple iPhones, they expect sustainable quality products. Unfortunately, that is not what happened with the iPhone 6 series. Not only were consumers defrauded, and did they have to face frustration and financial harm, from an environmental point of view it is also utterly irresponsible. This new lawsuit is the latest front in our fight against planned obsolescence in Europe. Our ask is simple: American consumers received compensation, European consumers want to be treated with the same fairness and respect."
The group has created a video to announce the suit that mocks Apple, a move reminiscent of Epic Games' 'Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite' video when it launched an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
Apple is facing a similar lawsuit that was filed in Spain and Belgium in December with another expected in Portugal next month. The company had just ended a "batterygate" lawsuit in the United States back in November of last year, paying out $113 million to settle the suit.
