The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether Apple Inc. violated securities laws concerning its disclosures about a software update that slowed older iPhone models, according to a new report from Bloomberg.The government has requested information from the company, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the probe is private.
The inquiry is in early stages, they cautioned, and it’s too soon to conclude any enforcement will follow. Investigators are looking into public statements made by Apple on the situation, they added.
While the slowdown has frustrated consumers, U.S. investigators are concerned that the company may have misled investors about the performance of older phones.
In a statement later Tuesday, Apple confirmed it had been contacted by government officials. "We have received questions from some government agencies and we are responding to them," an Apple spokeswoman told Bloomberg News. The spokeswoman reiterated the company’s earlier statement that "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."
The news comes as the latest in a string of inquiries into Apple’s software updates. The company is also facing a criminal probe in France (where planned obsolescence is illegal), an investigation from Italy’s antitrust organization, and multiple class action lawsuits. For now, the US government’s investigation is said to be in the early stages, and it’s still unclear if anything will actually come of it.
Late last year, Apple confirmed that iPhones with older batteries were being intentionally slowed down as the devices' batteries aged in order to prevent further performance issues. Since then, the company has received considerable backlash over the lack of transparency in how this information was revealed to customers. This led to Apple issuing an apology and offering $29 battery replacements for device owners during 2018 as a way to make amends.
Additionally, the next major update to the iPhone’s operating system, iOS 11.3, will include an option for users to opt out of the slowed-down speeds (at the risk of increasing random device reboots) and offer more transparent information about battery health in general on devices.
