It was the end of 2017 and a Reddit user named TeckFire posted a message to the r/iPhone subreddit with the catchy headline: “Is your iPhone running slow? Try replacing the battery!” The post soon struck a chord with a community of users who complained that the then very popular iPhone 6 and 6S were slow for no reason.

throttling. This was the trigger for one of the most important controversies the Cupertino company ever had, and finally accepted the truth: iOS slowed down iPhones to minimize battery degradation. The famous ‘restriction’ has already caused economic problems for Apple in Italy, and now the same could happen in Spain.

Bad view. Apple tried to apologize for the misunderstanding and launched a discount program on battery replacement. This sparked even more controversy and litigation – “they wouldn’t have done anything if the problem hadn’t been discovered” – and participated in other crises of the time, as did their MacBooks with their butterfly keyboards.

Yet another request. The OCU (Consumers and Users Organization) therefore presented the pre-processes in December 2020. According to that body, the company “intentionally and uninformedly manipulated the performance of some of its popular iPhones in an act of obviously programmed obsolescence”. They focused on the iPhone 6, 6s and 6s Plus and asked for compensation between 99 and 189 euros, depending on the model.

Accepted for processing. Those responsible for this organization stated that after the class action lawsuit filed in May 2022, the Commercial Court No. 10 of Madrid accepted the case for processing.

many affected. They estimate there are “more than 400,000 people affected by this bad practice from Apple” from the OCU. They offer those who do not do so with the option to participate in this claim, which “does not incur any costs because the OCU bears the costs of the judicial procedure.”

Image | Konstantin Konovalova