Apple and Epson in criminal probe
Are the products really designed to fail with time?
Consumer fraud investigators have launched inquiries into iPhone maker Apple and printer manufacturer Epson over claimed ‘programmed obsolescence’ by cutting the useful life of products.
The two DGCCRF probes come after user complaints that iPhones slowed after being updated – and just as new models were coming out – and printers failed and ran out of ink too early.
An association, Halte à l’obsolescence programmée (Hop), sparked the actions after making official complaints about Apple France and printer firms Epson, HP, Canon and Brother.
Epson, whose HQ is in Paris suburb Levallois-Perret is the only printer firm to be investigated in the first cases under the 2015 Energy Transition law making programmed obsolescence a crime liable to two years’ jail and a €300,000 fine.
Hop said it acted after getting 2,600 complaints about slow iPhones and found they slowed as new models were revealed.
The printer complaint came as its own tests found printers were hard to repair and priced so a new printer was cheaper – while cartridges could not be shared between models, failed while still having ink and could not be reset to save waste.
Apple has said it slowed the performance of its iPhone 6, 6S and 7 to keep the phones usable as older batteries shut down due to high processor drain.
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Hop lawyer Emile Meunier said it was the first such opening of a criminal inquiry and was due to the “worldwide mobilisation of consumers” which he hoped would mean Apple changing its practices.
