PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Apple has admitted to slowing down older iPhones, but now the government is considering whether the company broke the law in doing so.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice want to know more about what Apple called a “battery saver” feature that put the brakes on processors in iPhone 7 and previous models.
That’s according to sources who spoke with Matt Robinson of Bloomberg News.
“What the government is looking at is what kind of disclosures Apple made over this particular software update,” he said.
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The company says it was designed to prevent sudden shutdowns as the batteries degraded.
“Generally in these types of investigations, they want to know the message being sent and communicated to investors was material, of course, and also accurate,” he said.
A public backlash led Apple to apologize, lower the price of replacement iPhone batteries, and develop a software update so owners of older devices could switch off the slowdown.
