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Planned Obsolescence apparent in iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 Class Action Lawsuit in Canada

by | Jun 5, 2024

Planned obsolescence from Apple was made obvious after in March 2024, it agreed to settle a BC lawsuit claiming it deliberately slowed down iPhone 6 and iPhone 7s so clients would have to purchase new phones.

Current or former iPhone 6 and 7 users in Canada can now submit a settlement claim in the class-action lawsuit that could pay up to $150 to eligible users of the affected devices after the B.C. Supreme Court approved a proposed settlement of up to $14.4 million.

You have to have been a Canadian resident as of June 15, 2023, (excluding Quebec) who owns or owned an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 7 and/or 7 Plus device that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later prior to December 21, 2017.

Go here to file a claim : https://www.smartphoneperformancesettlement.ca

This approach to product design and maintenance is an example of unsustainable technology that the Digital Collage sustainability workshop outlines.

Other iPhone Lawsuits for Repair Obstruction :

The ” Batterygate ” issue had triggered similar iPhone 6 and 7 lawsuits in the US, the UK and in France in 2017, that ended with Apple settling for millions in the US and France. The UK iPhone lawsuit is awaiting judgement in 2024.

In France, an advocacy group called HOP ( French acronym for “Stop Planned Obsolescence”) filed another lawsuit against Apple in December 2022 for deliberately impeding iPhone repairs of its newest models ( such as the iPhone 15). This is despite sugary claims from Apple that its phones are designed to be easy and inexpensive to repair.

This latest effort by Apple to lock in customers to either purchasing new phones or using only its repair services, at great cost to customers, is called parts serializing or pairing. The international repair ressource iFix it explains how parts pairing kills independent repair here. It consists in associating an iPhone part’s with a unique phone serial number, making using other, identical parts from other phones difficult.

iPhone 7 won’t connect to your Carrier Network

I am personally faced with another issue: my iPhone 7 has stopped being able to connect to my phone carrier network, after connecting to it for about two years.

Is this Apple’s way of saying I should replace my iPhone, despite it being in tip top shape?

Connect with us here if your iPhone model has suddenly stopped functioning correctly or is exensive and difficult to repair.

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