Apple Settles Slow iPhone Lawsuit For $500M

Apple Inc. has agreed to pay $500 million in settlement, following a lawsuit accusing the company of intentionally slowing down the performance of older phones in order to encourage customers to buy new phones or fresh batteries.

A federal judge in California presiding over the group of lawsuits will be asked to approve the proposed settlement at a hearing in early April, according to a court filing on Friday.

The tech giant will now offer $25 to any current or former owner of a covered iPhone. Consumers who were named in the lawsuit will receive $1,500 or $3,500, and around $93 million will go toward attorneys plus another $1.5 million or so for out-of-pocket expenses, legal documents indicated.

People who have the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7Plus or SE running on iOS 10.2.1 are eligible for the settlement. Also eligible are owners of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2, or a later version before, the 21st of December, 2017.

The settlement has a minimum payout of $310 million, but the payment is expected to increase to $500 million if more people file claims.

The litigation centered on stealthy mobile software that slowed phones in the name of avoiding ‘unintended power-offs‘ according to the company.

In December 2017, Apple admitted that iOS software was tweaked to slow the performance of older iPhones whose battery life was deteriorating to prevent handsets from spontaneously shutting down. But critics accused Apple of intentionally forcing users to buy new phones or fresh batteries.