Apple has reportedly reached an agreement to pay up to $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in which it was accused of secretly throttling iPhone CPU speeds.
According to Reuters Apple reached a preliminary agreement for the lawsuit on Friday night. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila still has to approve it, but if the settlement goes through, some U.S. iPhone owners could get paid $25 per iPhone that Apple throttle.
If you owned one of these iPhones covered in the lawsuit, a check might be coming your way:
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone SE
Apple was accused of throttling iPhone CPU speeds via iOS updates on devices with older batteries. Customers complained that the move was just a ploy to get customers to upgrade to newer handsets. Apple claimed it slowed down CPU speeds to prevent devices from crashing and improve customer satisfaction.
Court documents show Apple decided to reach the settlement to avoid litigation costs. The company denied any wrongdoing in the case. The total of how much Apple pays per iPhone could be adjusted depending on how many total iPhones in the U.S. are eligible for the settlement. Apple agreed to pay out a minimum of $310 million.
Lawyers representing consumers called the payments “considerable by any degree”. Damages experts believed $46 per iPhone was the maximum payout possible. The settlement is expected to be approved by April 3, 2020, so we should get more details on how to claim your settlement check then.
