San Francisco (AFP)
Apple has agreed to pay $ 113 million to end the lawsuits and proceedings against it in some 30 US states that accuse it of reducing the performance of old iPhone models to spare batteries.
The sum will be divided between California and 33 other states, according to an announcement Wednesday by Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
"Apple has withheld information about their batteries that were slowing the operation of iPhones, by misleading updates," Becerra said.
"This type of behavior harms the customer's wallet and limits their ability to make informed purchases. The agreement reached today (Wednesday, Editor's note) provides consumers with access to the information they need to purchase and use Apple products ".
The deal ends complaints against the iPhone 6 and 7 lines, some of which were updated to restrict device performance to save battery life without users knowing, states say.
Apple has not commented on this issue.
In legal documents, the apple brand indicated that it had agreed to pay this sum "for settlement (of the case) only", without admitting any fault or attempt to deceive its customers.
Earlier this year, the California-based firm agreed to pay owners of older iPhone models up to $ 500 million after two years of litigation.
The plaintiffs accused the tech giant of orchestrating performance cuts to entice users to buy newer models.
In December 2017, Apple apologized for deliberately slowing down some of its iPhones to compensate for their aging battery and prevent them from shutting down unexpectedly.
The group had nevertheless denied any attempt at planned obsolescence.
In France, the American group was sanctioned in February for failing to warn that updates could slow down old smartphones.
He was fined 25 million euros ($ 27.8 million) at the end of an investigation which reveals "deceptive commercial practices by omission" but does not retain the charge of planned obsolescence.
© 2020 AFP