U.S. DoJ, SEC investigating Apple over ‘Batterygate’

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating whether Apple violated securities laws concerning its disclosures about a software update that slowed older iPhone models, reports Bloomberg, quoting unnamed “people familiar with the matter.”

The government has purportedly requested information from the company. The inquiry is in early stages, so it’s too soon to conclude any enforcement will follow, according to Bloomberg.

This isn’t the first query about the matter by the U.S. government On Jan. 10, it was reported that Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, pressed Apple for answers to a series of questions about how the company decided to throttle back iPhone processing performance in phones with older batteries.

Apple has published an apology letter to customers in regards to “Batterygate” for slowing down older phones to compensate for erratic battery performance. The tech giant is offering $29 replacement batteries for those with an iPhone 6 or later. The discount, which represents a $50 savings, starts in late January and ends in December 2018. Apple will also add more battery health information to iOS to let users know when the battery begins to compromise performance.