Last year in an update to iOS 9, it was discovered that if you had your iPhone repaired via an unauthorized repair center, it would result in your iPhone getting bricked and users would be greeted by an “Error 53” message. Now it seems that a year later, Australia’s consumer regulator is still unhappy over the incident and has since sued Apple over it.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed a lawsuit against Apple and are alleging that the company had violated the country’s consumer laws. The watchdog is asking for financial penalties of up to AUD$1.1 million per breach should Apple be found guilty.
According to Rod Sims, chairman of the ACCC who spoke to The Wall Street Journal in an interview, “It’s fair to say we haven’t observed similar behavior by other manufacturers. Apple seems to have a particular way of doing things.” We should point out that this isn’t the first time Apple has been sued over “error 53”, although one of those lawsuits has since been dismissed.
Whether or not this new lawsuit in Australia will hold remains to be seen. In the meantime shortly after the incident, Apple issued another update to iOS 10.9 in which it would restore iPhones that were bricked by “error 53”.