Apple Lawsuit: Tech Company To Pay $500 Million In iPhone Throttling Case

Tech giant Apple has agreed to pay out up to $500 million dollars to older iPhone users to settle a suit alleging the intentional slowing down of certain models to push users towards upgrading to newer smartphones.

The preliminary settlement was submitted Friday in California. While denying any wrongdoing, Apple has agreed to settle the case to avoid the continued troubles of litigation. It will resolve an estimated 66 class suits filed from December 2017 to June 2018.

The settlement calls for the company to pay $25 to customers per phone. Customers will be eligible for the offer if they owned or currently own an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7Plus or SE that ran the iOS 10.2.1 or later operating system, or an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before Dec. 21, 2017. The offer is valid for U.S. customers only.

The $25 offer is subject to change depending on the number of phones deemed to be eligible. Apple must pay out a minimum of $310 million in total.

Customers that used older iPhones had accused the company of worsening their phones’ performance by way of software updates. This resulted, according to the allegations, in phones running noticeably slower and having worse battery life. Apple denied that these issues were intentional, explaining that new operating systems would run hotter and use more power. The company claimed that the issues were swiftly resolved. It also lowered the cost of battery replacements from $79 to $29.

The settlement is pending the approval of U.S. District Judge Edward Davila.