Technology giant Apple has been fined 25 million euros for slowing down old iPhone models without giving clear information to its customers.
The huge amount of fine was imposed by the France’s competition and fraud watchdog Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Repression of Fraud (DGCCRF).
According to the DGGCRF, Apple had not informed the iPhone users that ‘the updates of the iOS operating systems (10.2.1 and 11.2) they installed were likely to slow down the operation of their device.’
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In a statement, the DGGCRF said that these updates, released in 2017, included a “dynamic power management system that could, under certain conditions and conditions, especially when the batteries were old, slow down the operation of the iPhone 6, SE and 7 models.
“Unable to return to the previous version of the operating system, many consumers would have been forced to change their battery or even buy a new phone,” it added.
The DGGCRF also stated that Apple had ‘committed the crime of deceptive commercial practice by omission’ and had agreed to pay the fine.
Moreover, the multinational technology company will also display a notice about the issue on the DGGCRF’s French language website for a month.