A new class action lawsuit against Apple alleges that the iPhone maker crippled the 2011 iPhone 4s with the iOS 9 update, demanding more than $5 million in damages.
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The new suit was filed with a New York district court on Tuesday, Apple Insider reports and suggests that Apple willingly advertised iOS 9 as backwards compatible with the iPhone 4s even though it knew about the potential issues the update will cause.
As a result, iPhone 4s owners who have upgraded to iOS 9 were forced to either use an operating system that can’t be downgraded to iOS 8 or iOS 7 – because of the way Apple’s iOS update work – or spend hundreds of dollars on new iPhones that would better handle the operating system. The lawsuit says that existing iPhone 4s users are more likely to buy a new iPhone to replace the dated phone, to keep using purchased apps and other content that wouldn’t be available on other platforms.
The lawsuit includes more than 100 members who complain of a poor overall iPhone 4s experience following the iOS 9 update. The plaintiffs say that Apple knew about the potential performance issues but still chose to go forward with marketing claims that touted the superior performance iOS 9 would deliver, including better security and battery life.
Since unveiling iOS 9 at WWDC 2015, Apple did promote the new iPhone and iPad operating system as an even better alternative than iOS 8, saying iOS 9 will offer a more optimized experience to customers who still own older hardware, including iPhone 4s and iPad 2.
However, tests that followed after iOS 9 was released showed that iOS 9 performed worse than iOS 8 on older devices.
Apple’s decision to keep supporting four-year-old hardware is a weapon against Google. The company often compares iOS adoption to Android adoption when delivering stats about its latest mobile operating system to the public.
This full complaint against Apple follows below.
