Apple has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a class action lawsuit related to it silently slowing down older iPhones over time. The firm will pay a minimum of $310 million should the settlement be approved.
The settlement was first reported by Reuters, and Apple hasn’t yet publicly commented. According to that publication, Apple has agreed to pay $25 per affected iPhone and that sum could be adjusted up or down depending on the number of eligible iPhones. As part of the settlement, Apple will not admit to wrongdoing and will instead claim it is settling only to “avoid the burdens and costs of litigation.”
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The settlement impacts U.S. owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7Plus, and SE who purchased their device before the end of 2017. Lawyers representing the consumers impacted by this behavior had asked for a per-iPhone payment of $25 to $46, and they described the proposed settlement as “fair, reasonable, and adequate.” Those lawyers are seeking nearly $100 million in legal fees and expenses.
As you may recall, Apple admitted that it was throttling the performance of older iPhones in December 2017, but it contended that it did so to preserve battery life, and not to help convince users to upgrade to a new iPhone, which was of course the real reason. But it did issue a public apology, and it offered to replace batteries in older iPhones for just $29 for a limited time. Then, in January 2018, the firm revealed that it would give users the option to throttle performance as batteries aged.
The settlement proposal needs to be approved by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California.
r2d22
<p>it's not a bug, it's a feature!</p>
Stooks
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"Those lawyers are seeking nearly $100 million in legal fees and expenses."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This is who won. Apple slowed your phone down so it would not crash because the batter was old. They should have told you and gave you and option. I think an apology would be fine. No please fork out half of a billion.</span></p><p><br></p><p>The world is run by lawyers. 98% of politicians are lawyers. Once in office they hire their former/friends law firms to write the mountains of legal documents for the new bills/laws push.</p>
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#525395">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>On Apple's website in the release notes for iOS 10.2.1 for all the world to see.</p><p><br></p><p><em>"</em><em style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">It also improves power management during peak workloads to avoid unexpected shutdowns on iPhone."</em></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">That was when the change was made. I would include a link but I can't because of your website rules.</span></p><p><br></p><p>Could they have explained it better? Yes. Should they give an option to turn that feature off? Yes.</p><p><br></p><p>We get it you do not like Apple. However there is a reason they did this and it was NOT to sell more iPhones. It was to prevent crashing of iPhones that had worn out batteries. Crashing of course is bad PR for them or any cell phone maker.</p><p><br></p><p>Their implementation of this change and communication was horrible but they have gone out of their way to provide cheap battery replacements and have since given us the ability to turn it off and show us via the settings where our battery is at. All of my family got a $29 battery in November of the year they offered it whether they needed or not.</p><p><br></p><p>I just upgraded my daughter from her iPhone 7 (3 years old) to a iPhone XR because the battery indicator showed 81% and it is my understanding that once it hits 80% or less the power mode will turn on to prevent power issues.</p>