The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) fined Apple for 10 million euros and Samsung for 5 million euros for violating the “Consumer Code”, with some updates for their smartphones that would have “caused serious malfunctions and significantly reduced performance, thus accelerating the replacement process “. The decision is part of the broad debate on the so-called “planned obsolescence”, the alleged practice followed by manufacturers to make their products obsolete, in the case of smartphones, with operating systems and software that require more resources to function.
The 5 million euro fine for Samsung is for having “insistently proposed” to its users to update the Galaxy Note 4 with a new version of Android, without informing them about “serious malfunctions due to greater hardware stress”, which in some cases have also required maintenance of the devices not covered by warranty.
In the case of Apple, the fine is 10 million euros because it includes multiple violations of the “Consumer Code”. According to the AGCM, Apple “insistently proposed” to update the iPhone 6 (6/6 Plus and 6S / 6S Plus) to iOS 10 in 2016, “without informing about the increased energy demands of the new operating system and the possible inconveniences – what sudden shutdowns – that such an installation could have involved “. This is linked to the problem of worn-out iPhone batteries that emerged at the end of last year, which made it necessary to slow down some iPhones to make them more stable. Apple then decided to discount the replacement of worn-out batteries throughout 2018.
Apple has always denied following “programmed obsolete” practices. The theme exists, but it is on a different scale and concerns the inevitable trend in technology (and not only) to produce more and more powerful devices, which can handle more complex software better than previous models did. As a result, you need to purchase a new model to use the latest features. In the case of Apple, there was much talk of planned obsolescence in 2013, when iOS 7 was introduced, an operating system that changed many things from the previous version and that caused a marked slowdown in older iPhone models, making them in some cases almost unusable. That update helped fuel more than anything else that Apple was deliberately slowing down older devices to sell new ones. In reality, even economically, things are more complex than that.
Apple makes significant profits not only from smartphone sales, but also from applications that can be purchased on its App Store. The company therefore has a vested interest in maintaining a very large base of iPhone owners, active and interested in spending money on apps, ebooks, movies, Apple Music streaming service and storage. iCloud online. If the lifespan of iPhones were purposely limited, many users would be less likely to buy another iPhone, given how short the first one lasted.
The same statistics on the use of the various models around the world dispel, at least in part, the myth about the low longevity of Apple's smartphones. The iPhone 6s, which went on sale more than four years ago, continue to be among the most popular: 21 percent of all active iPhones around the world. This is followed by the iPhone 6s (18 percent) from three years ago and the iPhone 5s (12 percent) from over 5 years ago. It is not known how many of these devices were sold in the years following their presentation, nor if they still work with the original battery or if they have been replaced, not necessarily with an original spare.
