Apple to pay up to $500m to settle 'slow iPhones' lawsuit
Apple has agreed to pay up to $500m (€453m) to settle litigation accusing it of quietly slowing down older iPhones as it launched new models, to induce owners to buy replacement phones or batteries.
The preliminary proposed class-action settlement was disclosed late last week and requires approval by US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California.
It calls for Apple to pay consumers $25 per iPhone, which may be adjusted up or down depending on how many iPhones are eligible, with a minimum total payout of $310m. Apple denied wrongdoing and settled the US case to avoid the burdens and costs of litigation, court papers show.
The settlement covers US owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7Plus or SE that ran the iOS 10.2.1 or later operating system. It also covers US owners of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017. Consumers contended that their phones’ performance suffered after they installed Apple software updates.
Apple attributed the problems mainly to temperature changes, high usage, and other issues, and said its engineers worked quickly to address them. Analysts sometimes refer to the slowing of iPhones as “throttling”.
