US Government Investigating Apple Over iPhone Slowdown, Value Crashes $55bn

It is the headache for Apple that will simply not go away, after confessing it slows down older phones to retain battery usage the tech giant is now being investigated by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to see if it has violated securities laws over the slowdown.

Bloomberg‘s sources claim the government is already in talks with Apple asking for information. The sources says the investigation is still in its early stages and its too soon to tell if action will be made. The probe is not public.

This news has caused Apple’s shares to tumble, with its value plummeting $55bn, its current share value on the NYSE is $166.97 down 0.59 per cent.

Both the South Korean and Italian governments are investigating the company over the same issue.

Tim Cook, CEO at Apple apologised to the company’s customers who thought Apple slowed down the phones for money. A new iOS update will be available in the next month where users can see how healthy their batteries are and can turn off the feature where their phone is slowed down.

After letting the public know they have been releasing software that slows down older phones, the company discounted the prices of batteries worldwide making it cheaper for its customers to swap batteries. Apple iPhone batteries are now $39, before they were $119 each.