A US woman is suing Apple for nearly one trillion dollars after the company acknowledged it had deliberately slowed down iPhones as they get older. The US tech giant now faces nine suits over the issue.
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Violetta Mailyan is reportedly seeking compensation, demanding Apple pay her $ 999,999,999,000.
At least eight other class action lawsuits have been filed in the US District Courts in California, New York, and Illinois over how Apple handles power management of batteries in older iPhones.
The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages from Apple, in addition to reimbursement for the phone’s purchase with two of the plaintiffs asking the court to ban the company from reducing the speed of devices or, at least to oblige Apple to inform users before it does so.
Last week, the corporation admitted it had slowed down older iPhones. Apple said it has algorithms in place to help keep an iPhone running at optimal performance if there is an older battery inside that can’t keep up with the required power. Apple said it aimed to stop unexpected shutdowns of older iPhone models and keep them running to the best possible standard.
A similar case was filed in an Israeli court on Monday after Los Angeles residents Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas took Apple to court shortly after the company announcement.
“If it turns out consumers would have replaced their battery instead of buying new iPhones had they known the true nature of Apple’s upgrades, you might start to have a better case for some sort of misrepresentation or fraud,” said Rory Van Loo, a Boston University professor specializing in consumer technology law, as quoted by Reuters.
