Kathmandu. Leading US multinational technology company Apple has been fined US$113 million (NRs. 13 billion) for slowing down older iPhone models used by customers. According to an article in BBC, Apple has announced that it will pay for settlement in the batterygate case.

33 US states have claimed that Apple took such a step to lure customers into buying newer models of iPhone. Apple has already paid USD 500 million fine in a similar case.

What is the batterygate issue?

Smartphones have a variety of software in the operating system that requires updates from time to time. Apple also released an update for the iPhone in 2017, which slowed down the then popular iPhones. The company did not provide any information before releasing the update.

After the company’s update slowed down the phone, Apple argued that the old battery was slowed down so that the phone would not turn off automatically and other problems would not occur in the phone. Consumers did not like Apple’s argument and 33 US states went to the court in order to investigate Apple. These US states went to court with claims that Apple slowed down old iPhones and forced consumers to buy new and expensive iPhones.

The court accepted the states’ claim and ordered Apple to pay USD 25 each to all customers affected by the update. The update affected Apple’s iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone SE. Apple has to pay a large amount of money to compensate all the users of these models.