After nearly a year of rumors, Apple Inc. finally admitted last week that it has been secretly slowing down older iPhones, and now Apple is the subject of at least eight class-action lawsuits that accuse the company of defrauding consumers.

Reuters reported Tuesday that owners of older iPhone models first noticed the slowdown after a software update last year, which seemed to reduce processing speeds on the iPhone 6, 6S and SE. Many users feared that Apple had intentionally sabotaged their phones to coerce them into buying newer, more expensive models.

Last week, an Apple spokesperson confirmed that the company has indeed been throttling older phones, but said the reason is not so nefarious.

Apple’s spokesperson said that the processing dip compensates for weak battery performance, allowing the phones to “smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions.”

Apple’s assurances were not enough for some consumers, and disgruntled iPhone owners have already filed at least eight class actions against Apple. The lawsuits, which were filed in U.S. District Courts in California, New York and Illinois, do not focus directly on Apple’s practice of throttling phones, but rather on the company’s lack of transparency with consumers. Some of the complaints against Apple note that the company only admitted to throttling older iPhones after a Dec. 18 report by benchmarking company Primate Labs Inc., which concluded that a software change was behind the performance dips.

One filing also accuses Apple of trying to hide the flaws in its phones instead of addressing them. “Rather than curing the battery defect by providing a free battery replacement for all affected iPhones, Apple sought to mask the battery defect,” the complaint says. The lawsuit argues that if Apple had shared its plans with consumers, many iPhone owners would have chosen to replace their battery rather than buy a new iPhone model.

According to Patently Apple, one lawsuit is seeking the ridiculous sum of nearly $1 trillion. The other more realistic lawsuits are seeking unspecified damages from Apple, and some also want Apple to reimburse consumers for their iPhone purchases. Apple has yet to comment on the lawsuits.

Photo: Apple CEO Tim Cook/SiliconANGLE