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Apple previously agreed to pay $500m to settle a similar US case, which claimed that the company had slowed down certain iPhone models without properly informing consumers.
Apple is facing a UK lawsuit that accuses the company of throttling certain iPhone batteries without informing users.
The company attempted to block this lawsuit, but that appeal was denied by the country’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAP). However, the Tribunal claimed that there is a “lack of clarity and specificity” in the case.
The lawsuit was brought by Justin Gutmann, who claims that Apple abused its dominant market position and failed to properly explain “battery issues” around certain older iPhone models.
Apple introduced a software update known as a performance management feature (PMF), in order to prevent iPhone batteries from deteriorating as a result of third-party apps, according to the CAP.
Gutmann’s case is centred around a claim that consumers were not properly informed about this performance feature or the fact that certain software updates slowed down – or throttled – affected iPhones.
“It is common ground that the PMF had an impact on phone performance although the extent of that impact is in dispute,” the CAP said in its ruling.
Gutmann is seeking damages of up to £1.6bn over this issue, Reuters reports. Apple shared a previous statement on this case with Reuters, which states that the company would never “do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades”.
Apple has previously stated that its iOS will “dynamically manage the maximum performance of some system components” in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns in certain older iPhone models.
Previously, Apple agreed to pay $500m in the US to settle similar claims that that it slowed down aging iPhone models.
Meanwhile, Apple has been facing heating problems with its latest iPhone model. Last month, the company said that a software bug and certain apps are causing the iPhone 15 Pro to overheat.
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