Italy anti-trust agency fines Apple almost $12 million over ‘batterygate’ brouhaha

The Autorit Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), Italy’s anti-trust agency, is fining Apple and Samsung 5 million euros (about $5.7 million) each following complaints they used software updates to slow down their mobile phones, reports Reuters.

The former was fined another 5 million euro fine for not giving clients clear information on how to maintain or replace smartphone batteries. Italian consumer groups had complained that software updates for mobile phones reduced the functionality of the devices and were designed to push clients into buying new handsets.

The “batterygate” issue saw Apple sued in different countries for throttling iPhone processing performance in phones with older batteries. The tech published an apology letter and offered $29 replacement batteries for those with an iPhone 6 or later. The discount, which represents a $50 savings, ends in December 2018. Apple also pledged to add more battery health information to iOS to let users know when the battery begins to compromise performance.