The UK’s Court of Appeal has rejected Apple’s request to dismiss a $1 billion lawsuit over cutting the performance of an iPhone 6 and other models with chemically depleted batteries.
Consumer rights activist Justin Gutmann filed his case in 2022, through the UK’s equivalent of a US class action lawsuit. According to a statement to AppleInsider from Gutmann’s legal team, Apple’s attempts to get the case dismissed on appeal have now failed.
“[The UK] Court of Appeal has given the go-ahead for the so-called ‘Batterygate’ lawsuit — a collective action brought on behalf of millions of UK users, which accuses Apple of intentionally ‘throttling’ iPhone batteries,” says the statement. “Apple will now be forced to defend itself in court, after it tried but failed to get the 853 million pounds [$1.1 billion] claim thrown out.”
Gutmann claims that Apple should have told approximately 24 million users that their iPhones would be “throttled.” The models cited in the case are:
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone SE
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
According to Gutmann’s filing, Apple willfully concealed the fact that its it would throttle, or slow down, these devices. Consequently, the lawsuit claims that users had multiple issues from slower application launching and lower speaker volume, to a disabled camera flash.
Central to the complaint is that in order to regain performance, users had to upgrade to newer iPhones, or pay Apple to replace the batteries in their existing devices.
While Apple has yet to comment on the Court of Appeal’s decision, it has previously apologized for this so-called “throttling.” However, the intention behind the throttling was to prolong the life of the iPhone battery, and specifically to prevent unexpected shutdowns when a chemically depleted battery couldn’t maintain enough voltage to keep the phone running at top speed.
Following that 2017 apology, Apple cut the price of replacement iPhone batteries in the UK from 65 pounds to 25 pounds until the end of December 2018. It did the same in the US, where battery replacement prices were cut to $29 instead of between $49 and $69, depending on the model of iPhone.
What happens next
No date has been set yet for the trial. However Gutmann’s representatives at law firm Charles Lyndon, plus Monckton Chambers and the Berkeley Research Group, have set out the next stage for claimants.
UK residents who meet the eligibility criteria — for instance by having owned one of the affected iPhone models — do not need to do anything. They are automatically included the lawsuit, although by being so, they forfeit their right to bring a separate action against Apple.
If an eligible UK resident wants to opt out of the lawsuit, they have until June 7, 2025 to do so. Similarly, an eligible claimant currently residing outside the UK, has until the same date to opt in.
More details, including how to opt in or out, are on the iPhone Claim website.
The UK case is far from the only one concerned with Apple’s alleged “batterygate”. In 2020, Apple agreed to pay out $500 million to end a US class-action lawsuit over the issue, although it then took until 2024 for it to send out checks to affected customers.
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