Samsung Note 4 Problems Result In Italian Fine Against Company

Samsung Note 4 problems have prompted Italian authorities to fine the company $5.7 million for consumer code violations.

In October 2018, Italy’s Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) announced that both Samsung and Apple had violated consumer codes by using software updates to slow down the performance of older phones. This announcement was the result of two separate antitrust investigations into the companies launched in January 2018.

“Apple and Samsung implemented dishonest commercial practices, [operating system updates] caused serious malfunctions and significantly reduced performance, thus accelerating phones’ substitution,” the AGCM said, according to XDA.

AGCM issued a €5 million ($5.7 million U.S.) fine against Samsung. The agency reportedly found that Samsung put out the Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 update for the Galaxy Note 7 but failed to consider that it could cause serious Samsung Note 4 problems.

The update was reportedly too demanding for the older model, causing problems with performance and speed. Changes in the update allegedly “caused serious dysfunctions and reduced performance significantly, thereby accelerating the process of replacing them.”

Because the Note 4 was two years old and the models were out of warranty coverage at that point, consumers were reportedly forced to pay for repairs out of pocket. According to XDA, Samsung further increased the price of the repairs for malfunctions caused by the Marshmallow update.

In the U.S. Samsung continues to face class action litigation over the Galaxy S4. A California plaintiff recently requested certification of a plaintiff Class that would cover affected Samsung smartphone owners. Other consumers have raised claims that Samsung misrepresented the phone’s pixel count and that their camera lenses spontaneously shatter, seemingly battering the company from all sides.

Samsung’s issue with updates slowing down phone performance may not be as well known as the similar issue affecting Apple phones around the same time. However, like the Apple issue, Samsung’s reportedly defective update garnered consumer outrage and widespread confusion.

Similarly to Samsung, Apple faced a $5.7 million fine form the AGCM after the agency found that the company designed an update specifically for the iPhone 7. Because the systems were different for the newer phone, iPhone 6 users allegedly experienced shutdowns and battery issues due to the energy demands of iOS 10.

To fix the problem, Apple reportedly released update 10.2.1. However, the company reportedly failed to warn consumers that older phones would experience an extreme decrease in CPU in order to counteract the aging batteries’ inability to handle the new software.

On top of the $5.7 million fine for the update issues, Apple is reportedly faced with a second $5.7 million fine for failing to properly inform their customers about the life span of their iPhone batteries and the proper way to maintain them.

Apple later apologized for the “misunderstanding” and released new information about the lithium-ion Apple batteries and how the phones’ software is designed to compensate for aging batteries.

Join a Free Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you own or owned a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or Note 4 Edge smartphone that became sluggish, resulting in the “mmc_error” message or otherwise failing prematurely, you may qualify to take action and seek compensation against Samsung.

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