Apple Questioned By U.S. Senator Over iPhone Slowdowns

After provoking the ire of French authorities over what is considered by the country as “planned obsolescence” by Apple, the Cupertino firm now has to contend with lawmakers at home. A U.S. Senator is currently looking into the issue of the company slowing down older iPhones, which sparked outrage among consumers.

The senator, in question, is Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), who is also the chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Reuters reports. This makes him one of the more influential players in Washington and a terrible enemy for Apple to make.

Sen. Thune recently sent a letter to the iPhone maker, which questioned the level of transparency that the company displayed when the slowdown was implemented. After all, Apple failed to provide any kind of notification to users who had older iPhones that it would be slowing down their devices. According to the letter, the company should have been more upfront with its customers regarding this matter.

“[T]he large volume of consumer criticism leveled against the company in light of its admission suggests that there should have been better transparency,” the letter reads.

The letter asked Apple to provide details on how it notified consumers about the software update, if any, and if there are any compensations with regards to the batteries affected. The company has until January 23rd to reply.

As Ars Technica points out, Sen. Thune’s letter is basically asking the same questions that consumers have been leveling at Apple ever since the iPhone slowdown issue arose. The company has already apologized for the incident and even offered discounts for battery replacements, but this did not dampen the fires of outrage.

In fact, the company is now facing an extraordinary number of class-action lawsuits both in the U.S. and abroad. This could mean billions of dollars’ worth of losses for the company.