The Cupertino-based Apple Inc. has issued a statement, saying that the government of the United States is conducting an investigation to the company amid the iPhone slowdown issue.
“As we told our customers in December, we never have – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades,” Apple said in the statement on Wednesday.
Apple’s statement came as the U.S’ Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the company’s software update that slows down the older iPhones. The company said that it is aware that the U.S government is investigating them and they are responding to the questions being asked by the two government agencies.
iPhone users who experienced the slower performance of their devices have sued Apple. This prompted the government to investigate and look in particular the business practice of Apple. Both the U.S Senate and Congress manifested to probe Apple as the company is now facing more than 45 class-action lawsuits.
Below is the Apple’s response on the reported DOJ-SEC investigation:
About a year ago, we delivered a software update that improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on certain iPhones with older batteries. We know that iPhones have become an important part of the daily lives of our customers and our intention was to improve the customer experience.
We sought to further improve the customer experience in December by announcing a significant discount on replacement batteries for certain iPhones. We also announced that we began developing a new iOS feature to show battery health and which would recommend when the user should consider replacing their battery.
These actions were taken to further assist our customers and help extend the life of their iPhones. In addition, users will be able to see if the power management feature is being used to prevent unexpected shutdowns, and turn if off if they so choose.
These features will be included in a developer release next month and a user release this Spring. As we told our customers in December, we have never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love.
Making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.We have received questions from some government agencies and we are responding to them.
