Apple, reportedly, has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a United States lawsuit over slowing iPhone battery performance in its devices in order to introduce new models. The company was accused of manipulating the performance of batteries in old iPhones that slowed them down.
The allegation date back to 2018. However, the iphone maker denied wrongdoing but decided to amicably settle the issue to avoid lengthy legal proceeding, according to papers from the court. The iPhone marker, however, is yet to comment on this. The settlement still requires a judge's approval.
iPhone owner to be compensated
The preliminary proposed class action suit, wherein Apple has agreed to pay up to $500 million to several iPhone owners was first disclosed on Friday night. Apple was accused of slowing down the performance of its older handsets in order to introduce new iPhone models. This was in an attempt to compel the iPhone users to either buy a new model or replace the battery.
This makes Apple pay roughly $25 per iPhone to customers, which may be adjusted depending on the number of iPhones eligible for this compensation. The minimum total payout is $310 million. The iPhone maker however has denied any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit covers owners of iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, or iPhone SE that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later operating system, and U.S. owners of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before Dec. 21, 2017. However, the proposed class action settlement needs to be approved by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California.
What exactly happened?
The allegations date back to 2018. Initially consumers complained that their iPhones were slowing down after they installed Apple's software updates. Apple introduced the performance throttling as a feature saying that it was intended to prevent unexpected shutdowns, claiming that its batteries couldn't perform at the optimum level as they aged.
Consumers claimed that Apple mislead them into believing that their iPhones were nearing the end of their lifecycles. Apple tried to misguide it customers by citing reasons that such slowing down could be a result of excessive usage, temperature changes. Apple claimed that its engineering team was quick to resolve the issue. Following the outrage shown by consumers over slowing iPhones, Apple also slashed the price of replacement of batteries. However, things seem to be a lot clearer now, with Apple reportedly agreeing to settle the lawsuit.
