Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Apple’s tricks to keep the iPhone selling every year are sniffed out by consumers in the UK. This was revealed in a lawsuit filed by British consumer activist Justin Gutmann on behalf of around 24 million iPhone users in the UK.

Apple reportedly lost its attempt to block the mass lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses Apple of hiding defective batteries in millions of iPhones.

Quote ReutersGutmann is demanding compensation from Apple on their behalf of up to 1.6 billion pounds (Rp. 30 trillion) plus interest, with a claim range of 853 million pounds.

The whistleblower’s attorneys argued that Apple hid battery problems in certain phone models by “throttling” them with software updates and installing performance-limiting power management tools.

However, Apple said the whistleblower’s allegations were baseless and strongly denied that the batteries in the iPhone were defective, except for a small number of iPhone 6s models that offered free battery replacements.

The company attempted to take the case to court, but the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) said Gutmann’s case could proceed in a written decision.

But the CAT said there was a lack of clarity and specificity in Gutmann’s case that needed to be resolved before trial.

He also said that Gutmann’s litigation funding arrangements may need to be changed, following a landmark Supreme Court decision in July that found many such agreements unlawful.

Gutmann said in a statement that the decision is a major step toward consumer justice.

An Apple spokesperson referred to previous statements, saying “We have never – and will never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of an Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive upgrades for customers.”

The certification of Gutmann’s case adds to the number of high-value mass lawsuits currently being filed in London. This follows an earlier ruling in July that gave the green light to claims against major banks for alleged foreign exchange fraud.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(fab/fab)