Did you own an iPhone that started to get slower as it aged? You may be due at least $25 from Apple for your troubles.
That so-called throttling, which some suspected was a play by the company to get people to buy newer phones, could cost Apple up to $500 million in a proposed class-action settlement, according to a new report in Bloomberg Law. The company denied any wrongdoing—in fact, Apple insisted that the slowdown was to preserve the life of the older phones. That didn’t stop people from filing 66 proposed class suits between December 2017 and June 2018.
If the settlement is approved on April 3, it will call for “Apple to pay consumers $25 per iPhone, which may be adjusted up or down depending on how many iPhones are eligible, with a minimum total payout of $310 million.”
Are you due a payment? According to the Bloomberg Law report, the proposed settlement covers all former or current U.S. owners of these iPhone models:
- 6
- 6 Plus
- 6s
- 6s Plus
- 7
- 7 Plus
- SE
The devices in question were running iOS 10.2.1 or later (for iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, and SE devices) or iOS 11.2 or later (for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus devices) before December 21, 2017.
At the time of the alleged throttling, Apple had a battery replacement program, and it lowered the cost from $79 to $29 at the end of the program. A report in Macworld says, “It’s unclear whether anyone who took advantage of the battery replacement program is still eligible for the payment.”
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