WASHINGTON D.C. (CelebrityAccess) — U.S. authorities are investigating tech giant Apple after they admitted to slowing the operating systems of older versions of their popular iPhone.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission launched the investigation over potential violations of securities laws.
While long rumored to be the case, a tech blogger appeared to confirm the slowdown effect in December, leading Apple to concede that they had indeed been slowing down older handsets.
According to Apple, the slowdowns were made to improve performance on older handsets with weak batteries, and the company apologized, released a patch that allowed users to disable the slowdown in most cases, and the instituted a battery replacement program.
However, that has not deterred outrage from consumers and scrutiny from regulators. France has launched a criminal probe of the matter and Apple is facing numerous lawsuits accusing the company of strategically slowing down older products to drive sales of new handsets.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the probe.
