Italian antitrust organization “Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato” (AGCM) fined both Apple and Samsung with 5 million Euros each for slowing down old phones, on purpose, to force customers to buy new devices.
As reported by AGCM, Apple and Samsung violated a series of consumer codes. For the Italian market authority, that is unacceptable and, in consequence, it fined both companies with 5 million Euros each.
Apple was fined for the issues caused by iOS 10 update on iPhone 6
The iOS 10 version, which came out by default on iPhone 7, also came to iPhone 6 as an update. However, iOS 10 came with greater energy demands, forcing older iPhone smartphones to shut down unexpectedly, according to MobileSyrup. Apple tried to tackle this issue with the iOS 10.2.1 update which throttled CPUs on older iPhones.
Also, Apple throttled iPhone smartphones with degraded batteries to avoid them from shutting down. But, the company did not inform its clients about the possible consequences of the update, such as slower performance.
Italian market authorities also fined Samsung with 5 million Euros for the Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 update
Apple was not the only giant company fined by the “Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato” (AGCM), the Italian market authority. AGCM also fined Samsung with 5 million Euros for the Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 update the South Korean tech company released for Galaxy Note 4.
Allegedly, the update was too demanding for the before-mentioned smartphones, causing the devices to malfunction, making people pay out-of-pocket repair costs to fix the issues or replace the phone, MobileSyrup reported. According to the AGCM press release, Samsung did not inform its customers about the potential negative consequences of the update. However, it’s not clear whether the South Korean company could have predicted such issues.
In short, “Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato” (AGCM), the Italian market authority, fined Apple and Samsung for slowing down old phones.
