France probes Apple over restricting smartphone repair / Photo: JOHN MOORE - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
-
Melania Trump says secured ceasefire in Ukrainian city of Oleshky
-
Oil hits $115 with stocks mixed on earnings, AI
-
Carrick 'confident' he can turn around Man Utd slump
-
Casualties feared as multi-storey building collapses in Nairobi
-
PSG v Lyon French Ligue 1 game postponed due to Paris protests
-
Man Utd defeat to Como 'unacceptable', says Carrick
-
Meghan Markle 'distressed' over claims father had child abuse images
-
Hurzeler 'focused' on Brighton job despite Man Utd links
-
Gunman kills one, wounds four in town outside Paris
-
Hammer blow for Kenya as world marathon champ Jepchirchir suspended for doping
-
France to deploy 70,000 police ahead of new protests
-
Latin America's right-wing swing looms large over nature summit
-
Mekies hails Verstappen as Red Bull's driving force amid revival
-
European, Mideast foreign ministers hold talks in Istanbul
-
Tanker with Russian diesel heads to New York under Trump deal
-
World marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir suspended for doping: AIU
-
New centre puts focus on Portuguese dictator Salazar's legacy
-
Romania blames Russia for new deadly attack on ship
-
Oil nears $115 with stocks mixed on earnings, AI
-
Waze rejects Malaysia's data security claims after civil servant ban
-
Asian football endorses Infantino re-election in apparent U-turn
-
'Call of Duty' seeks to win back fans with warfare spectacle
-
Ukraine says two soldiers died after arrested girl sent Russian poison
-
Volvo Cars shares plunge on losses, job cuts
-
New Greece law bans social media for under-15s
-
France braces for new protests as Macron seeks to restore order
-
Netanyahu orders West Bank closure as attack wounds Israelis before election
-
Kering shares tumble as Gucci fails to reassure investors
-
Asian stocks mixed ahead of weekend as tech recovers early losses
-
West Bank attack wounds 5 as Israel PM cancels events
-
How five Boeing 777s linked Madagascar's power elite to Iran
-
Ahead of APEC summit, Trump comes knocking on Kim's door
-
South Korea proposes holding border talks with North
-
Emergency nurseries rescue DR Congo's Ebola orphans
-
Ukraine's young figure skaters twizzle on despite Russian threat
-
Bezzecchi tops Australian MotoGP practice as wallaby hops onto track
-
Asian football endorses Infantino re-election as FIFA president
-
Under-threat Ospreys bet on new ground and Australian 'stardust'
-
Complete Kane hopes for 'special night' as Ballon d'Or rumours swirl
-
India stirs up its gastronomy with French cooking schools
-
Rooney calls United squad 'selfish babies' after Fernandes criticism
-
Williams, Santos lead Bears over Patriots
-
Teddy Wilson, son of World Cup-winner David, gets Wallabies call-up
-
China's first AI film hits cinemas but ticket sales lag
-
New Zealand military chief resigns over 'inappropriate relationship'
-
Barcelona aiming to put Real Madrid out of sight in Clasico
-
Man Utd's Carrick on borrowed time, free-scoring Brighton face Liverpool
-
Taiwan shuts down as Typhoon Champi approaches
-
Asian stocks head into weekend on a low as tech extends losses
-
370 books in 20 months: S.African author defends her use of AI
France probes Apple over restricting smartphone repair
France is investigating US tech giant Apple over it allegedly planning for smartphones to become out of date through restricting their repair, prosecutors and an association said on Monday.
The probe into purported misleading commercial practices and planned obsolescence has been under way since December, the Paris prosecutor's office said.
It follows a complaint filed by the Halt Planned Obsolescence (HOP) association.
HOP said it hoped the investigation would demonstrate the iPhone maker was "associating the serial numbers of spare parts to those of a smartphone, including via microchips, giving the manufacturer the possibility of restricting repairs by non-approved repairers or to remotely degrade a smartphone repaired with generic parts".
The association called on Apple "to guarantee the right to repair devices under the logic of real circular economy".
Apple France was not immediately available for comment.
Apple in 2020 agreed to pay 25 million euros (then $27.4 million) for failing to tell iPhone users that software updates could slow down older devices.
The scandal erupted in December 2017, when the US tech giant admitted that its most recent iOS software was slowing the performance of older telephones whose battery life was deteriorating.
Q.Bulbul--SF-PST