A new class action lawsuit alleges that Apple deliberately slowed down older iPhones with its latest iOS 9 upgrade as part of a planned obsolesce strategy, AppleInsider reports. The lawsuit was filed with a New York district court on Tuesday and seeks $5 million in damages, claiming that Apple was aware of potential compatibility issues when it released the iOS 9 software update for the iPhone 4S.
The Plaintiff, Chaim Lerman, is accusing Apple of engaging in “deceptive trade practices” and “false advertisement” by claiming iOS 9 was compatible with older models, stating that the reality is that the update “significantly” interferes with iPhone 4s performance and that since users are preventing from downgrading once iOS 9 has been applied, owners are left with “an inoperable device” with no choice but to buy a newer model.
The suit includes more than 100 members who are asserting that iOS 9 rendered their devices so slow as to be unsuitable for normal use. The suit alleges that Apple would have been fully aware of the negative impact of iOS 9 on older devices, yet despite this engaged in a broad marketing campaign that falsely advertised faster performance and other features that would entice users to upgrade without fully realizing the potentially negative consequences of doing so.
The complaint also suggests that Apple knows that users are more likely to buy a newer model than switch to a competing platform due to non-transferrable investments such as apps, and accuses Apple of deliberately designing iOS 9 to perform poorly on older iPhones in order to not only entice users into upgrading, but to profit from users signing new cellular carrier contract agreements.
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