Apple has come under pressure to scrap its controversial policy of permanentlydisabling repaired iPhone 6s when software is upgraded, following a global consumer backlash and claims the company could be acting illegally.
At least one firm of US lawyers said it hopes to bring a class action against the technology giant on behalf of victims whose £500 phones have been rendered worthless by an Apple software upgrade. In the UK, a barrister told the Guardian that Apple’s “reckless” policy of effectively killing people’s iPhones following the software upgrade could potentially be viewed as an offence under the Criminal Damage Act 1971. The act makes it an offence to intentionally destroy the property of another.
The Guardian revealed on Friday how thousands of iPhone 6 users found an iOS software upgrade permanently disabled their phone, which was left displaying an “Error 53” code. Nothing could be done to restore it to working order.
The Apple iOS 9 software update which it launched last autumn will, in the jargon, “brick” the handset if it detects that the touch ID fingerprint recognition and/or the home button is not the original. Some victims had had their phones repaired by third-party contractors. Others had simply damaged their handset. In most cases the phone had been working normally for weeks or months before the software upgrade shut down the handset.
Apple has described this as a security feature, but some have suggested the policy could be designed to increase revenues by forcing anyone needing a repair to their home button to pay the £236 the company charges in the UK. People whose phones have been shut down and have complained at Apple stores have been told that nothing can be done and they must buy a new handset.
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