Apple, Samsung fined $24m by Italian authority

Italian competition authority AGCM has fined Apple and Samsung for inducing consumers to upgrade to firmware that their devices cannot fully support, introducing malfunctions and degraded performance.

The authority’s decision is likely to add fuel to the fire of the rumours circulating that accuse the smartphone duopoly of introducing “planned obsolescence” to their devices.

The two companies have been fined the maximum possible fines, with Samsung fined €5 million ($8.05 million) and Apple fined €10 million through two separate €5 million fines.

According to the AGCM, Samsung and Apple violated Italian competition law by releasing firmware updates which caused “serious malfunctions” and “significantly reduced ... performance” in older devices, thus creating an added incentive for consumers to upgrade to newer products.

An investigation found that Apple and Samsung had been inducing consumers through insistently proposing to proceed with the download, without adequately informing them of the risk of malfunctions or degraded performance.

Samsung was found to have been bugging users of Galaxy Note 4 smartphone — which launched in 2014 — to upgrade to new firmware based on a newer version of Android since 2016, without informing them of malfunctions that could occur due to the greater stress it places on the device’s hardware.

Apple meanwhile was found to have been insistently suggesting to users of the iPhone 6 generation of devices to upgrade to iOS 10, optimised for the iPhone 7, without informing consumers of the greater energy demand for the new OS, and the risk of malfunctions such as sudden shutdowns.

In 2017, Apple also released a new update to iOS 10 without warning consumers that installing this update could cause the same performance and functionality hit.

Apple has previously admitted to downgrading the performance of older iPhones via iOS software, but insisted that this is to conserve battery life and prevent malfunctions during sudden spikes in power usage due to peak workloads.

The company said it will never intentionally shorten the lifespan of its products or degrade the user experience to encourage users to upgrade to newer phones.

Samsung has meanwhile denied issuing any software update that reduced the Galaxy Note 4’s performance, and has pledged to appeal the decision.

Image credit: ©stock.adobecom/au/Africa Studio

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