Apple encounters a class action lawsuit in the UK over the iPhone "speed reduction door" incident, and the court has ruled that the lawsuit can continue.

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizen Alejandro86 for the clue delivery! CTOnews.com Nov.2-Apple faces a class action lawsuit in Britain over the 2017 "speed-down gate" incident, Reuters reported, and the Competition Appeals Tribunal recently ruled that the lawsuit can continue.

Consumer advocate Justin Gutman filed the lawsuit in June 2022, initially seeking compensation totaling £ 750 million for up to 25 million iPhone users affected by the incident in the UK. Since then, the lawsuit has grown to £ 1.6 billion (CTOnews.com notes: currently about RMB14.256 billion) plus interest.

Gutman's lawyers argue that Apple concealed battery problems with certain phone models and "covertly" installed a performance-limiting power management tool.

However, Apple said the lawsuit was "baseless" and strongly denied that the iPhone battery was defective, except for a few iPhone 6s models, for which it offered a free battery replacement service.

Gutman's lawsuit covers iPhone 6 to iPhone X, and while the Competition Appeals Tribunal ruled that the lawsuit could proceed, it also pointed to "lack of clarity and specificity" issues that need to be resolved before a formal hearing.

Apple introduced an iOS 10.2.1 update in 2017 that included a performance-reducing power management feature to prevent devices with aging batteries from trying to gain peak power during use that the battery couldn't deliver. Apple said it introduced the feature to help extend the life of the device while reducing the chance of accidental shutdowns, but the company has been criticized for not disclosing what it did and why, and some believe it was trying to hide defects.

Apple later apologized for not better explaining the changes and why, and launched a low-cost battery replacement program that lasted for years. Apple agreed to pay up to $500 million in 2020 to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit in the United States over the incident, and the company faces similar lawsuits in other countries.