Some things come back to haunt a company.
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has disclosed that it will consider consolidating dozens of iPhone performance-related complaints filed against Apple during a hearing scheduled for Thursday, March 29th, in Atlanta, Georgia.
This is a routine for similar cases filed across multiple states.
Apple currently faces no less than 59 putative class action cases across 16 district courts in the United States following the fallout of the company’s intentionally throttling the speed of certain model iPhones in circumstances where the battery might have undergone chemical aging. The throttling process was introduced as a feature in iOS 10.2.1 and removed in later versions of the operating system. This total includes no less than 30 cases before Judge Edward J. Davila in the Northern District of California, where the lawsuits will likely be centralized given their overlapping claims.
Apple is currently also facing similar class action lawsuits in at least six other countries per Toronto-based law firm Rochon Genova LLP.
Apple initially didn’t mention the change in its iOS 10.2.1 release notes, and in a statement issued a month later, it still only mentioned vague “improvements” resulting in a significant reduction in unexpected shutdowns.
The company apologized for its lack of communication in December, and reduced the price of battery replacements to $29 for iPhone 6 and newer through the end of 2018. Apple will also provide users with more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery in iOS 11.3, with the feature already available in beta.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors