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A press release from Italy’s Antitrust Authority announcing an investigation into Samsung Electronics and Apple. (taken from Italy’s Antitrust Authority homepage)

Samsung Electronics and Apple are under investigation by the Italian Antitrust Authority for unfair actions against consumers, including performance degradation during smartphone updates. The investigation’s inclusion of Samsung Electronics – which had not previously been targeted in smartphone performance degradation allegations – is drawing particular attention to the eventual outcome.

In a Jan. 18 press release, the Italian Antitrust Authority in Rome announced investigations into “unfair commercial practices” by Samsung and Apple in connection with smartphone updates. Italian authorities suspect the two companies of deliberately degrading smartphone performance and exploiting flaws with specific parts to encourage consumers to buy new items, without adequately informing users about the effects of their updates. The authorities said the two companies’ actions may be in violation of Articles 20, 21, 22, and 24 of the Italian Consumer Code.

Previous allegations of deliberate performance degradation through smartphone updates had focused on Apple’s iPhone alone. Samsung Electronics, which unlike the iPhone uses Google’s Android operating system on its smartphones, had claimed there to be “no smartphone performance degradation due to old batteries.”

The press release by the Italian Antitrust Authority did not cite a specific basis for its investigation of Samsung Electronics. Samsung currently ranks first in the Italian smartphone market with a share of over 30%, followed by Huawei in second and Apple in third, with a combined share in the 10–20% range.

“We still have not precisely ascertained the facts,” a Samsung Electronics source said the same day.

“What is certain is that we have not provided updates that deliberately degrade the performance of our smartphones,” the source added.

Apple has been facing a heavy backlash from international consumers since revelations late last year that it deliberately degraded performance of its iPhone through iOS updates. South Korean consumers have filed a class action case against Apple Korea in response.

By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]