According to The Washington Post, Apple will pay $113 million to resolve the iPhone “strangulation” investigation that has been initiated by nearly three dozen states in the U.S. According to the report, the states and Apple agreed to a financial penalty and a legal commitment. from Apple to be transparent in the future when implementing similar software changes. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said that companies like Apple must “tell the whole truth” when they take actions that affect their customers.
“Major technologies must stop manipulating consumers and tell them the whole truth about their practices and products … I am committed to making these technological giants accountable if they hide the truth from their users.
Apple’s decision to slow down older iPhones such as the iPhone 6S to preserve battery life resulted in research that argued that the change did not encourage users to keep their devices any longer rather than force them to upgrade to a new phone.
Ultimately, Apple’s approach left many users feeling that “the only way to improve performance was to buy a newer model of Apple’s iPhone,” Arizona’s complaint states. As a result, the company relied on “unfair and deceptive acts and practices” to increase its sales “potentially by millions of devices per year,” according to the Arizona Attorney General.
The settlement also requires Apple to be more transparent about changes that would affect the power and battery management of an iPhone. The company has already added tools for iPhone users to view and manage their battery, as well as disabling the “speed-up” feature.