French prosecutors have opened an investigation into Apple, after a consumer group lodged a complaint against the US tech giant over its alleged slowing of older iPhones.
At the end of last year, Apple apologised for deliberately slowing down some ageing iPhone models via software updates but said it did so in order to prolong battery life and not to force customers to upgrade.
The French investigation had been handed over to the country's competition and consumer protection authority, the DGCCRF.
Consumer group Halte a l'Obsolescence Programmee (Stop planned obsolescence, or HOP) lodged a complaint against Apple on December 27.
HOP accused the company of "the practice of planned obsolescence with the aim of deliberately reducing the lifespan [of a product] in order to increase the replacement rate," it said in a statement.
HOP said France was the third country to investigate Apple after the United States and Israel, but the only country where the alleged practice is illegal.
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