Apple faces class action lawsuits for slowing down older iPhones

Apple is facing lawsuits after admitting that it slows down iPhones as they get older to deal with a battery performance problem.

{mosads}The lawsuits argue that Apple misled and defrauded customers who may have spent money on fixes that didn’t speed up their phones, according to Reuters which reviewed the lawsuits.  

The suits were filed in U.S. district courts in California, New York and Illinois and are seeking class-action status to represent iPhone users across the world.

“Rather than curing the battery defect by providing a free battery replacement for all affected iPhones, Apple sought to mask the battery defect,” reads the complaint filed in San Francisco on Thursday.

Apple admitted last week that as its phones age and battery performance declines, it slows down older devices to avoid quickly draining batteries.

The admission came after years of speculation that the company tries to make phones obsolete to spur customers to purchase new ones.

On Dec. 18, two days prior to Apple’s disclosure, Primate Labs, which has an app measuring phone performance, also published a study concluding that software changes were behind decreased iPhone performance.

The lawsuits seek unspecified damages and in some cases reimbursement for damages.