Earlier this year, Apple agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing it of “secretly throttling” older iPhones. Now, each eligible iPhone owner who submits a claim can receive approximately $25 per device that experienced “diminished performance.”
Eligible consumers must currently or have previously owned:
An iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, and / or an iPhone SE that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later before December 21st, 2017
An iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21st, 2017
All claims must be submitted online or by mail by October 6, 2020.
Apple denies wrongdoing
Apple was accused of deliberately slowing down older phones in 2017. The tech giant has maintained it slowed down older devices in order to prolong the lifespan of aging batteries and prevent devices from unexpectedly shutting down.
However, Apple’s failure to explicitly state that it had added the battery/performance management feature to iOS 10.2.1 led to the description of the action as “one of the largest consumer frauds in history.”
Apple later apologized for failing to inform consumers of the feature and reduced the price of battery replacements. After that, Apple released iOS 11.3 with a new feature that lets users track their iPhone battery's health and performance status.
The company has never admitted wrongdoing and said it’s only entering into this settlement to "avoid burdensome and costly litigation." Apple will pay up to $500 million as part of the proposed settlement.