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Apple pays $500 million settlement in iPhone slowdown lawsuit

By Nithya Bose in Apple News, posted January 9, 2024

Apple has started payments in a prolonged class action lawsuit in the US, settling claims it intentionally slowed down specific iPhones.

The company is paying a portion of the $500 million (£394 million) settlement, translating to roughly $92 per claimant.

In 2020 Apple agreed to resolve the lawsuit while denying any wrongdoing.

It cited concerns about the escalating costs of a long-running litigation.

The US case, originating from December 2017, saw Apple admitting it deliberately slowed down certain older iPhones.

Apple said when batteries aged, the performance declined, and so the “slowdown” extended the phones' lifespan.

However, the tech giant faced criticism for allegedly throttling the performance of some iPhones without informing customers.

It led to an uproar that prompted the tech giant to offer discounted battery replacements as a solution.

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Initial estimates suggested claimants might receive as little as $25 each.

However, the actual payout now appears to be nearly four times that amount.

Meanwhile, a parallel case in the UK, seeking £1.6 billion in compensation, represents approximately 24 million iPhone users and covers iPhone 6, 7, 8, 8 Plus, and X devices.

Apple lost an attempt to block the UK lawsuit in November.

The UK case says Apple's actions were detrimental to iPhone 6 and 7 users and impacted the performance of iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X devices.

Apple has consistently denied the allegations as "baseless" and said it’s committed to not intentionally diminishing the lifespan or user experience of any Apple product to drive customer upgrades.

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