Kicking off the new year can be stressful for everyone, but imagine how bad it is when you have eight lawsuits on your hands, one of which is demanding nearly a trillion dollars!
Yes, we're talking about Apple. The company has gotten itself into quite a predicament last week by admitting to intentionally slow down older iPhone models without disclosing it to the customers. Although less sinister than it may seem (the feature was implemented to "smooth out" power supply from older batteries so the phones wouldn't crash), Apple's choice to keep it from the public did not sit well with everyone.
According to a Patently Apple report, the tech giant faces eight class action suits, including one which asks for $999 billion in damages.
Filed by Californian Violeta Mailyan, the lawsuit argues that by withhelding information about the software updates' effect on iPhone's battery life, Apple may have lead customers into thinking they should purchase new devices instead of simply replacing the batteries.
All eight lawsuits, including Mailyan's, represent all iPhone users potentially affected by the company's actions, however, they do have different requests for damages, reimbursement, etc.
On Thursday, December 28, Apple issued a lengthy statement in which it goes into more detail about the aging process of its batteries, past solutions to prevent unexpected shutdowns and new ways it's going to "regain the trust of anyone who may have doubted Apple's intentions." It reads:
To address our customers' concerns [...] we've decided to take the following steps:
Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 - from $79 to $29 - for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced;
Early in 2018, we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone's battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance;
As always, our team is working on ways to make the user experience even better, including improving how we manage performance and avoid unexpected shutdowns as batteries age." The $999 billion demand may seem ridiculous and probably is, but it's nothing compared to this guy who once filed a lawsuit for 2 undecillion dollars, or $2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, because he was bitten by a dog, so... relax, Apple.
