Apple is enduring yet another blunder, as it has been revealed that U.S. authorities are investigating the company based on admitting that they purposefully slowed down older iPhone batteries.
Bloomberg has reported that Apple has responded to a government examination into the software update that deliberately slowed down older phone models in order to prompt a user to purchase a more recent version of their product.
The U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission, are now investigating whether the company had violated any security laws by tampering with the performance of some handsets.
This examination is still in its infancy, as it is too early to conclude whether or not any penalties will be enforced. While the slowed down batteries were a nuisance to people who used the phone, authorities are concerned that the company may have misled investors about the performance capabilities of older models.
An Apple spokesperson has revealed that they "have received questions from some government agencies and we are responding to them," noting how the company has "never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades."
Apple has said that this slowing down was a way for older phones to not randomly shut down once updating its software to the latest version. However, the company failed to note this very crucial tidbit when releasing the software which left many irate and feeling deceived.