A lawsuit worth up to £1.6 billion against Apple can go ahead after a London tribunal turned down the iPhone maker’s appeal to block it.

The lawsuit, brought by British consumer champion Justin Gutmann, is seeking damages from Apple over accusations that the company hid defective batteries in millions of iPhones. The suit argues that Apple installed a power management tool in older iPhones as part of software updates that “throttled” performance.

Gutmann and his lawyers are seeking up to £1.6 billion plus interest, with the claim’s midpoint range at £853 million.

Apple attempted to get the case thrown out, arguing that it was “baseless” and that the only iPhones impacted by battery issues were a small number of iPhone 6s models, whose owners were offered free battery replacements.

Despite Apple’s efforts and the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s (CAT) acknowledgement of "a lack of clarity and specificity" in Gutmann's case, the CAT published a written ruling on Wednesday that said that the case can proceed.

Gutmann said: “I’m heartened that the Competition Appeal Tribunal has given the nod for our groundbreaking claim to proceed to a full trial. This paves the way for millions of consumers, who were left paying for battery replacements or new phone models, to receive the compensation they deserve.”

A spokesperson for Apple maintained its historic stance, stating: "We have never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades."

“Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.”

Share Story: