For years, iPhone users suspected Apple deliberately slowed older phones to drive new purchases. In December 2017, Geekbench developer John Poole proved iPhone 6 and 7 models were being throttled via iOS updates. Apple admitted to the practice, claiming it was to prevent unexpected shutdowns from aging batteries. The company paid $500M to settle a US class action, $113M to 30+ states for consumer fraud, and $14.4M in Canada. France fined Apple for 'planned obsolescence' — the first such ruling against a tech giant.