The French consumer watchdog has fined Apple €25 million euro ($41 million) for its lack of transparency in deliberately slowing down older devices. The iPhone-maker has previously admitted to the practice, and apologised for not informing customers.

Evidence first emerged in 2017 that Apple had used a software update to limit the performance of older iPhones, feeding into a long-held conspiracy theory that the company intentionally slowed devices as they aged to encourage consumers to upgrade.

Apple continues to slow iPhones as their batteries decline with age. Credit:Bloomberg

In December 2017 the company came clean and clarified that it had slowed the devices primarily to protect them. As the phones' batteries age, there's a risk that higher levels of performance will drain the battery or force the phone to restart unexpectedly, Apple said. By making phones with older batteries slower, the devices became more stable and would theoretically keep working for longer than if performance throttling was not applied.

However, France's Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) has now found Apple's initial lack of transparency breached its guidelines.