Apple to Pay up to $500 Million over Intentionally Slowing Down Phones

Apple Inc has settled a lawsuit alleging it intentionally slowed down older phones in order to force customers to buy new ones or new batteries, reported Reuters. The firm agreed to pay up to $500 million.

25$ per iPhone

However, Apple denied any wrongdoing and said it was simply settling to avoid further burdens and costs associated with litigations. Now, Apple will have to pay consumers $25 per iPhone with a minimum total payout of $310 million.

The settlement, which was disclosed on Friday night, still requires approval by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California. Phones included in the settlement are the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus or SE that ran the iOS 10.2.1 or later operating system and the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017.

Apple customers complained that their phones exhibited a significant slow down after installing new updates which led them to believe that they were at the end of their lifecycles. Apple responded by blaming other elements such as temperature changes and high usage.

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Apple also claimed that its engineers were quick to try and resolve any issues. In the end, the customers seemed happy with the settlements as their lawyers called it “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

Not the first case

This is not the first such case for Apple. Last February, the firm was fined $27 million by the French government for the same issue. 

In this case, Apple was accused of capping peak performance on older phones and failing to inform consumers. Once, the issue was revealed, the company did apologize.

It also released a new software feature called “Battery Health," This software allowed you to view the maximum capacity of your battery and evaluate whether your iPhone can reach peak performance.