Santiago de Chile (AFP)
Apple has reached a $ 3.4 million (€ 2.86 million) deal with a Chilean consumers' association to settle class action lawsuits over scheduled obsolescence of some of its phones, a first in Latin America, announced Wednesday counsel for the plaintiffs.
In March 2020, Apple had agreed with US courts to pay up to $ 500 million to settle a similar class action lawsuit, with plaintiffs accusing the Apple-based firm of orchestrating performance declines to entice users to purchase newer models.
Last November, Apple also agreed to pay $ 113 million to put an end to lawsuits and proceedings in some thirty American states which accuse it of having reduced the performance of old iPhone models to spare batteries.
In Chile, the American company has been sued since 2018 by some 150,000 Iphone users who claimed to have "experienced drops in performance" after updating the iOS operating system in December 2017.
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.
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