Are Apple upgrades sabotaging older models?
Corporate watchdog group SumofUs is slamming Apple's iOS10 upgrades, saying the tech giant's 'planned obsolescence' is a strategy that sabotages older devices.
Apple will seed the second beta version of iOS 10 to developers, with a full release slated for September. SumofUs says the software upgrades will slow every iPhone and iPad except the very latest model.
As a result, the group has launched a petition to call out the company.
The petition, with over 150,000 signatures, calls out Apple's green initiatives as superficial.
"While the company has addressed environmental issues in recent years, such as investing in renewable energy and phasing out toxic chemicals, the company's software updates force consumers to trade their iPhones for the latest models, contributing to the global e-waste crisis," the petition states.
"Apple - the most valuable company in the world - could easily extend the life of older devices. The company simply has to stop aggressively pushing software 'upgrades' to devices which will become significantly slower as a result," explains Eoin Dubsky, campaign manager for SumOfUs.
"Apple plays up its green credentials, but the truth is that Apple only began investing in renewable energy, and phasing out toxic chemicals when public pressure became too strong to ignore," Dubsky says.
"People power did it before, and we can do it again.
SumOfUs is a global community of 10 million people dedicated to stopping big corporations from behaving badly.
"We use our power as consumers, workers and investors to hold the biggest companies in the world to account," the organisation says.
