In a nutshell: If you are one of the iPhone owners who fell victim to Apple quietly throttling the processor to conserve your battery in 2017, you may be entitled to part of a class-action settlement. Don't start planning a significant upgrade to your phone though. Awards are expected to be around $25 per device.
Apple has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit for up to $500 million. The suit was filed in 2017 after the company admitted to throttling older iPhones. Models covered in the claim include iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and SE installed with iOS 10.2.1 or later. It also covers iPhone 7 and 7 Plus running iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017.
Reuters reports the settlement, agreed to last Friday, proposes $25 per phone with a minimum total payment of $310 million, which can be adjusted up or down depending on how many claimants there end up being. The attorneys are looking for fees up to $93 million, plus $1.5 million to recoup expenses.
Apple agreed to settle the litigation to cut its losses, but throughout the case maintained, it did nothing wrong. Even still, after the throttling scandal became public, Cupertino offered to replace batteries on affected phones for $29 for a while. It had already been replacing them on iPhone 6s models for free. It usually charges $79 for the service.
The tech giant has not commented on the US settlement, but in February, Apple was fined $27 million by regulators in France over the fiasco. The French authority called the throttling a "misleading commercial action by omission."
Apple responded to the penalty saying, "Our goal has always been to create secure products appreciated by our clients, and making iPhones that last as long as possible is an important part of that." The company did not indicate whether it was going to contest the regulatory action.
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