France investigates iPhone slowdown

French authorities have opened an investigation into Apple over revelations it secretly slowed down older versions of its handsets.

The preliminary probe was opened last week over alleged ‘‘deception and planned obsolescence’’ of some Apple products, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

The move follows a legal complaint filed in December by a French consumer rights group campaigning against intentional obsolescence, which in France is punishable by up to two years in prison and fines of up to 5 per cent of the company’s annual turnover.

Apple apologised in December for secretly slowing down older iPhones, a move it said was necessary to avoid unexpected shutdowns related to battery fatigue.

The company said on its website ‘‘we have never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades’’.

Lawsuits against the company have also been filed in the US and Israel.

The French consumer rights group, called HOP, filed a lawsuit on December 27. It claims Apple slowed down older smartphones in order to make clients buy the new iPhone 8, which was launched on the market around the same time.

Benchmark tests have suggested the slowdown is nt huge, but noticeable.

Although Apple has said this is aimed at preventing iPhones from unexpectedly shutting down because of weak batteries, lawsuits filed against the company say that its failure to disclose that right away could have led some people to wrongly conclude they needed a newer, faster phone rather than just a new battery.

Laetitia Vasseur, the director of HOP, said studies have showed that peaks in speed reductions match the releases of new phones on the market.

‘‘We can see that there is an intention to have people buy new phones because of the speed reduction.’'

Vasseur said her group launched a survey following its complaint inviting users to report problems they have faced. In 10 days, HOP received more than 3000 reports, which will be handed over to the DGCCRF, the government fraud watchdog in charge of the investigation.

A similar investigation targeting Japanese printer-maker Epson was opened in November, also following a complaint by HOP. This probe is related to some of its ink cartridges and printers’ spare parts.

The company has denied any wrongdoing.

In the French legal system, preliminary investigations are launched and led by prosecutors’ offices. Such probes can last weeks or months.

When they’re over, prosecutors can either decide to drop the cases or to send them to investigating judges for full investigations. Judges, in turn, can also dismiss the cases, due to lack of evidence for instance, or send them to courts for trial. In these cases, the whole process may last months or even years. AP