More than 60,000 iPhone users sued Apple for damages

More than 60,000 South Korean iPhone users have reportedly filed a case against Apple for damages worth millions, making the country’s biggest-ever class action lawsuit in history, according to a report by IANS.

Xinhua news agency reported that a local law firm dubbed Hannuri lodged the class action lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court against the local unit of the iPhone manufacturer, Apple and Apple Korea.

The iPhone users are said to demanding the damages worth 200,000 won ($188) per plaintiff, or 12.75 billion won ($12 million) in total. Around 4 Lakh iPhone users originally sought to join the legal action, but the number fell in the course of verifying identification and offering necessary documents, according to the cited source.

The Cupertino giant was accused of slowing down older iPhones through software tweak, driving users to purchase new iPhone, once a new model is released. The iPhone maker alleged that its software intentionally slowed some models because of certain circumstances to preserve them from automatically shutting down.

Hannuri said, "that though Apple recognised the underperformance of iPhones via iOS upgrade, it covered up the truth in offering the software to hide the faulty battery, prevent customer secession and promote the sale of new models."