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A customer stands under an illuminated Apple logo at an Apple Store in central Sydney. (Reuters-Yonhap) |
A South Korean court ruled on Thursday that Apple did not deliberately slow down the performance of its iPhone handsets, dismissing the lawsuit brought by some 9,800 Korean smartphone buyers for 2 billion won ($1.64 million) against the American electronics giant.
“The lawsuit is dismissed,” a court judge said briefly, without specifying the reason for the decision. The ruling also said plaintiffs are responsible for all attorneys’ fees.
The decision comes five years after the consumer electronics group in Korea filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages of 200,000 won each, which was then considered the largest class action lawsuit in the history of the Korea, with some 64,000 original plaintiffs.
The lawsuit alleged that Apple tricked users of the iPhone 6, 7 and their variants into a software upgrade in 2016, which caused its mobile processors to slow down, forcing users to replace their products with again. Users also claimed that they were not informed in advance of what was also known as post-upgrade throttling.
Apple denied the claims, saying the phone’s slowdown was to preserve aging battery life after a software upgrade, not to sell new products.
The district court’s decision had been postponed until January 19.
The decision contrasts with that of the United States, as iPhone users in 34 states had reached a settlement that fined Apple $113 million.
Hannuri, the law firm representing users, said in a statement on Thursday that the ruling underscored the need for changes to Korea’s legal system so that anyone harmed by wrongful conduct need not be present during of the pursuit, as well as a discovery. process to force plaintiffs and defendants to reveal evidence to be presented from the start of the trial.
By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)