On October 24, 2018, the Italian Antitrust Authority (Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato “AGCM”) found that Apple and Samsung infringed the Italian Consumer Code.

In particular, according to the AGCM the two companies released firmware updates of mobile phones that have caused serious malfunctions and significantly reduced performance, thereby accelerating the process of replacing them.

The AGCM fined the companies the highest amount, taking into account the seriousness of the conduct and the size of the companies: 5 million euro fine for Samsung and 10 million euro for Apple. Apple was fined 5 million for each of the two contested practices. One practice consisting in proposing the installation of IPhone operating systems and updates that reduced the devices’ functionality. A second violation consisted in not providing consumers with adequate information about some essential characteristics of the batteries, in order to preserve the full functionality of the devices.

The AGCM press release is available (in Italian) at http://www.agcm.it…

For more information contacts us (Francesca Giannoni-Crystal & Federica Romanelli)

Antitrust fines toApple and Samsung in Italy for forced updates which reduced functionality of devices