Korea rejects $1.64 million battery throttling lawsuit

Apple's decision in 2017 to slow down or throttle the speed of older iPhones has led to a series of lawsuits around the world. In each case, Apple has said the throttling was done to extend the useful life of the old phones, but apologized for not explaining this in advance.

Now according to The Korea Herald, a suit in that country has ended in victory for Apple. The civil suit was Korean equivalent of a class action one, which saw a demand for 2 billion won ($1.64 million) to be paid in damages to 9,800 iPhone buyers.

The South Korean court did not give any details about its decision. Instead, the court judge reportedly just said, "the lawsuit is dismissed."

Plaintiffs are to be responsible for paying attorney's fees, though it's not clear whether that means both their own and Apple's legal bills.

Hannuri, a law firm representing the plaintiffs, said that the ruling highlighted the need for changes in Korea's judicial system.

Separately, in September 2022, a US federal judge rejected Apple's settlement offer of $310 million, citing a legal mistake in the lower courts.