A South Korean court ruled on Thursday that Apple did not deliberately degrade the performance of its iPhones, dismissing a 2 billion won ($1.64 million) lawsuit filed by some 9,800 South Korean smartphone buyers against U.S. electronics, a report said this morning. huge.
according to korea herald, “The suit is dismissed,” a court judge said briefly, without elaborating on the reasons for the ruling. The ruling also indicated that plaintiffs were liable for all attorneys’ fees.
The ruling comes five years after South Korean electronics consumer groups filed a civil lawsuit seeking 200,000 won each in what was considered at the time the largest class action in Korean history, initially with around 64,000 plaintiffs.
The suit alleges that in 2016 Apple tricked owners of the iPhone 6, 7 and their variants into a software update that slowed down its mobile processors, forcing users to replace them with new ones. Users also claim that they did not receive any advance notice of the so-called “throttling” after the upgrade.
Apple has denied the claims, saying the phones were slowed down to preserve the life of aging batteries after software upgrades, not to sell new products.
Finally, the report states, “The law firm representing users, Hannuri, said in a statement on Thursday that the ruling highlights the need for reform of the Korean judicial system so that all those aggrieved by misconduct do not have to appear in court, and A discovery process that compels plaintiffs and defendants to disclose evidence presented from the start of trial.”
