Italy fines Samsung and Apple for slowing down their devices

Considers that users are forced to update their mobiles, which causes "serious malfunctions" and "significantly reduces their functioning"

   The Italian Authority Guarantor of Competition (AGCM) has imposed fines of ten and five million euros, respectively, to Apple and Samsung for unfair business practices. This sanction is motivated by the so-called programmed obsolescence of electronic devices and is the first imposed on the world for this reason.

The Italian body explained on Wednesday that after two complex investigations it has been determined that both companies "have carried out unfair commercial practices for forcing consumers to download some updates in their mobile phones that caused serious dysfunctions and significantly reduced their functioning, accelerating thus its replacement by more recent products ».

   The AGCM determines that two telephony giants thus violated articles 20, 21, 22 and 24 of the Consumer Code "by persistently proposing to download software updates that their devices could not support correctly, without properly informing them or providing them with a form effective to recover the full functionality of their devices ", he added in a statement.

Apple is imposed a higher penalty because, in addition, did not correctly inform users of the duration of lithium batteries in their phones and certain factors that contribute to their deterioration.

It is detailed that since September 2016, Apple persistently suggested to its consumers that they had bought an iPhone 6 to install the new iOS 10 operating system, optimized for its next model, the iPhone 7 , without informing them of the high energy demand and of possible inconveniences such as sudden shutdowns.

The US company released a new update without warning that its installation could reduce the speed of execution and the functionality of the devices. In addition, he did not offer any specific measures to solve these problems.

Samsung is accused of carrying out the illegal practice since May 2016, prompting users of Note 4 models to install a new firmware designed for the Note 7 models , without reporting their consequences.

The two companies "have been sanctioned with the maximum fine due to their size and the severity of their behavior: Samsung with five million euros and Apple with ten million euros", has justified the body gives the competition.

Apple is being investigated by the French courts in relation to the crimes of "fraud" and "programmed slowdown" due to the handling of the batteries in their older iPhone.