The suspicion case that intentionally manipulated the performance of the older iPhone model (6•SE•7) in January last year will be handed over to the prosecution.
"We haven't secured evidence to prove the suspicion," the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul said on Jan. 29. "We will send Apple to the prosecution with the recommendation of non-indictment after the Lunar New Year holidays are over."
On Jan. 18 last year, Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty (CUCS) filed a complaint with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office against Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple Korea's CEO Daniel Dicicco on charges of property damage, business obstruction by computer, and fraud.
It was the first complaint filed in South Korea since the so-called "Battery Gate," which is a problem regarding iPhone's performance, was reported.
The civic group claimed that Apple intentionally reduced the performance of its older iPhone model by up to one-third through updates of its operating system, iOS, and that it did not inform its customers of this and earned property gains.
"It is true that the performance of the old iPhone, which hit the world, was designed to degrade gradually due to the performance of the battery," Apple said at that time. "We conducted an update to reduce the power of the old iPhone in order to prevent it from being turned off." In response, Apple replaced batteries for old smartphones for free in 2018.
In June last year, police received samples of three iPhone 6s and one iPhone 7 and requested the National Forensic Service (NFS) to conduct a thorough investigation. In October last year, the NFS handed over the results of the test to the police, saying that it is impossible to determine whether or not the overall performance of the handset will deteriorate due to the update of the operating system.
