Some U.S. Agencies are probing into the Apple iPhone throttling issue, according to a report from Bloomberg. The United States Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into the accusations as to whether Apple breached Securities laws, following its confession that it slowed older iPhones to increase their lives.
Not many details available
Citing sources, Bloomberg says that the government is reportedly seeking information from the company. According to the sources, the inquiry has just been started and it would be too soon to arrive at any conclusions. For now, the investigators are considering the public statements made by Apple.
Apple’s stock that was already down on Tuesday dropped further following the Bloomberg report. As of now, there has been no comment from Apple or the U.S. Agencies over the Bloomberg report.
Recently, users of the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus units launched a scathing attack on Apple after learning that their phones were being intentionally slowed down. The reasoning by Apple could not convince the annoyed users, who said that by slowing the iPhone, Apple was compelling users to upgrade to newer iPhones.
After things started getting out of control, the Cupertino-based company launched the battery replacement program, offering batteries for as low as $29. Once the battery is replaced, the smartphone would regain its full potential. Also, Apple assured users that the iOS 11.3, which would arrive somewhere in the Spring, will offer users the choice of turning off the speed-throttling function but at the cost of battery life.
Around 50 class-action lawsuits have already been proposed by consumers. The majority of the lawsuits are filed in the federal court in San Jose, California apart from other federal courts across the country. Lawyers, who filed the litigations on behalf of the consumers, urged the federal judicial panel to consolidate the litigation in California, notes Reuters.
Apple not transparent on iPhone throttling
Apple CEO Tim Cook did acknowledge the fact that Apple “should’ve been clearer” about their plans. However, he also sort of defended Apple’s decision while talking to ABC News.
“When we did put [the iOS update] out, we did say what it was,” Cook told ABC News. “But I don’t think a lot of people were paying attention.”
However, not all would agree that Apple clearly informed the users of what it was doing and its implications. For instance, in its original release note for the January 2017 iOS update, the iPhone maker did not talk about the performance throttling in any way. The disclosure about the “power management during the peak workloads” was added later, notes CRN.
Republican John Thune also questioned Apple about the iPhone throttling issues. Thune, in a letter to Cook in mid-January, stated that even if Apple wanted to improve the efficiency of the older iPhone by slowing them down, most of the lawsuits filed against the company argue that the company should have been clearer about its practices.
On Tuesday, Apple shares closed down 0.59% at $166.97. Year to date the stock is up over 3%.
