英语流利说 第16天

Posted 2021-01-22 qianyindichang

带着问题听讲解

Q1: 如何理解“计划报废”

Q2: “反托斯拉”是什么意思？用英语如何表达

Q3: 你觉得罚款对于规范苹果和三星公司的企业行为有效吗

红色表示重点词汇

蓝色表示句子主干

Apple and Samsung fined for deliberately slowing down phones

Apple and Samsung are being fined €10m and €5m respectively in Italy for the “planned obsolescence” of their smartphones.

An investigation launched in January by the nation’s competition authority found that certain smartphone software updates had a negative effect on the performance of the devices.

Believed to be the first ruling of its kind against smartphone manufacturers, the investigation followed accusations that operating system updates for older phones slowed them down, thereby encouraging the purchase of new phones.

In a statement the antitrust（反托拉斯） watchdog said “Apple and Samsung implemented dishonest commercial practices” and that operating system updates “caused serious malfunctions and significantly reduced performance, thus accelerating phones’ substitution”.

It added the two firms had not provided clients adequate information about the impact of the new software “or any means of restoring the original functionality of the products”.

Samsung told owners of its Galaxy Note 4 phone to install a new version of Google’s android operating system intended for the more recent Galaxy Note 7, but which users claimed rendered the old model sluggish.

Likewise, Apple told iPhone 6 owners to install an operating system designed for the iPhone 7, leading to problems for owners of the older model.

The Italian antitrust authority opened its investigation following customer complaints around the same time as a similar probe in France, which has yet to conclude.

A Samsung spokesperson said the company was disappointed by the decision and intends to appeal the fine: “Samsung did not issue any software update that reduced the Galaxy Note 4’s performance. In contrast, Samsung has always released software updates enabling our customers to have the best experience possible.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

苹果和三星因故意让手机变慢遭罚款

由于“计划报废”自家生产的智能手机，苹果和三星在意大利分别被处以 1000 万欧元和 500 万欧元的罚款。

意大利反垄断部门在 1 月份启动的一项调查发现，某些智能手机软件的更新对设备的性能造成了负面影响。

该调查被认为是第一个针对制造商“计划报废”智能手机的处罚决定。这项调查开始前，有指控称老款手机上操作系统的更新会导致手机变慢，以此来鼓励消费者购买新款手机。

反垄断监管机构在一份声明中表示，“苹果和三星采取了不诚实的商业行为”，同时，操作系统的更新“造成了手机严重的功能失常，显著降低了性能，从而加速了旧手机的替换”。

这份声明补充说道，这两家公司没有向客户提供足够的信息，说明新的操作系统的影响“或任何恢复产品原有功能的手段”。

三星让“Note 4”型手机使用者安装为更新款手机“Note 7”设计的谷歌安卓新版操作系统，然而使用者声称新版操作系统让“Note 4”手机的速度变慢了。

同样的， 苹果让“iPhone 6”手机用户安装为“iPhone 7”设计的操作系统，导致了老款手机用户的一系列问题。

意大利反垄断机构在接到客户的投诉后展开调查。法国也在几乎同一时间展开了类似的调查，该调查尚未得出结论。

一位三星发言人表示，该公司对此决定感到失望，并打算对这项处罚提出上诉：“三星没有发布过任何降低‘Note 4’性能的软件更新。与此相反，三星一直在发布能够使我们用户获得尽可能最佳体验的软件更新。”

苹果没有立即对此事的评论请求作出回应。