Apple to Pay $500 Million to Settle Lawsuit Over Slow iPhones

Tech giant Apple has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle litigation accusing it of quietly slowing down older iPhones as it launched new models, to induce owners to buy replacement phones or batteries.

Reuters reports the preliminary proposed class-action settlement was disclosed on Friday night and requires approval by US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California.

It calls 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.

Apple has denied wrongdoing and settled the nationwide case to avoid the burdens and costs of litigation, court papers show.

Consumers contend that their phones’ performance suffered after they installed Apple software updates saying this misled them into believing their phones were near the end of their lifecycles, requiring replacements or new batteries.

Apple attributed the problems mainly to temperature changes, high usage and other issues, and said its engineers worked quickly and successfully to address them.

Analysts sometimes refer to the slowing of iPhones as “throttling.”

Friday’s settlement covers US owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7Plus or SE that ran the iOS 10.2.1 or later operating system. It also covers US owners of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before Dec. 21, 2017.