Yahoo Finance Apple faces formal France investigation into claims of deliberate iPhone obsolescence
A French prosecutor has launched a formal investigation into claims Apple deliberately slowed older iPhones.
A judicial source said the inquiry into suspected “planned obsolescence” would be led by French consumer fraud watchdog DGCCRF, part of the economy ministry.
It comes after a complaint by the pressure group Stop Planned Obsolescence (HOP or Halte à l’Obsolescence Programmée) after Apple admitted last month that it intentionally slowed down older models of its iPhones over time.
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Executives at the tech giant could be jailed and the company fined 5% of its turnover, if found guilty in court.
Planned obsolescence is outlawed in France under a 2015 act and is when manufacturers build in expiry dates of their products, or key parts of them, so that consumers will be forced to replace them.
Consumer groups claim the practice is particularly prevalent in the electronics industry, which produces mountains of unrecyclable waste each year.
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Apple finally admitted last month what many users had believed to be happening for years – that older devices such as iPhones were being made to run slower and that their battery life was predetermined to get significantly shorter after a certain time.
Apple said it did slow some phones with ageing batteries but said it was to “prolong the life” of the devices.
The Silicon Valley company faces fraud lawsuits in the US for slowing down devices to compensate for poor battery performance.
MORE: Apple admits slowing down older iPhones to protect batteries
HOP co-founder Laetitia Vasseur said last month: “These practices are unacceptable and cannot go unpunished. It is our mission to defend consumers and the environment against this waste organised by Apple.”
Apple has apologised to customers while denying it consciously built in obsolescence, adding: “We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologise.”
