Apple Agrees to Pay $25 Per iPhone Ensnared in 'Batterygate' Slowdowns The company will pay between $310 million and $500 million to fund the U.S.-focused settlement, which addresses class-action lawsuits over Apple secretly slowing down iPhones to mitigate errors from their aging batteries.
By Michael Kan •
This story originally appeared on PC Mag
Apple has agreed to pay affected US customers $25 for slowing down their older iPhone models without notice.
On Friday, the company agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit addressing "Batterygate," or how Apple was secretly cranking down the CPU speeds on older iPhone models to offset errors caused by the aging batteries inside. According to Reuters, Apple will fork over $310 million to as much as $500 million to fund the payout.
In December 2017, the company apologized for the speed-throttling practice. Apple then proceeded to offer discount $29 battery replacements for the affected products, which would help restore the CPU speeds back to their original state. But that didn't satisfy everyone, as numerous class-action lawsuits cropped up in response, claiming Apple had misled consumers by keeping the practice secret.
According to the settlement, the payouts from Apple will cover the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus and SE devices that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later or iOS 11.2 or later. The phones will also need to have been purchased and used before Dec. 21, 2017, the day after Apple admitted to the speed-throttling practice.
Although the settlement aims to offer $25 per affected iPhone, it's possible the actual reward amount may be lower or higher, depending on how many customers apply to receive the compensation. A portion of the settlement, at over $100 million, will also be paid to the litigating attorneys.
If the California district court judge approves the settlement, Apple will appoint an administrator to handle the payouts, which will involve emailing affected customers. A public website will also be created so that applicable iPhone owners can apply to receive the $25 reward.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While the proposed award only applies to US customers, the settlement says consumers outside of the country still have the right to file legal claims against Apple to pay up over Batterygate.
