Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), is currently under investigation by the French authorities, they started the investigation after the Americans admitted that limits iPhone performance depending on the degree of wear of the battery. We are talking about an investigation by a French prosecutor against those from Apple, so the situation is very serious and could result in criminal sanctions.
The French prosecutor wants to find out to what extent Apple deceived its customers and had a strategy to plan to reduce the performance of its phones through iOS updates in order to force customers to buy the new models. The investigation is a preliminary one, and according to the information available now, it could last several months, and depending on the results, everything could turn into a criminal trial.
In France, there are strict laws against strategies to plan to reduce the performance of mobile phones in order to force customers to buy the latest models from manufacturers. If the authorities manage to prove that a company has such a strategy, then its employees can be sentenced to prison terms and fines can amount to 5% of its annual revenues.
"A French prosecutor has launched a preliminary investigation of US tech giant Apple over alleged deception and planned obsolescence of its products following a complaint by a consumer organization. The French watchdog's preliminary investigation could take months, and depending on its findings, the case could be dropped or handed over to a judge for an in-depth investigation. Under French law, companies risk fines of up to 5 percent of their annual sales for deliberately shortening the life of their products to spur demand to replace them."
Apple did not want to comment on this situation and told the press to re-read the press release in which it was said that the Americans do not reduce iPhone performance to force customers to buy the new models. Apart from this investigation, Apple has another one opened at a prosecutor's office in France, on exactly the same grounds, so they will most likely be merged to get the results faster.
