Apple to pay settlement to users over iPhone ‘batterygate;’ here’s what you can get

If you signed up for payment from a class-action lawsuit claiming Apple purposefully slowed down the performance of phones over battery issues, you can expect to see your money in the coming weeks.

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Owners of some older iPhone models are expected to receive about $65 from the settlement of a 2020 lawsuit, The Mercury News reported. The settlement is over a class-action lawsuit that accused Apple of secretly slowing phone performance on certain models in order to address problems with their processors and batteries.

The settlement, in which Apple agreed to pay claimants between $310 million and $500 million, is moving forward after the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals denied an appeal from two iPhone owners who objected to the settlement terms.

According to the agreement, everyone who signed up for the refund by Oct. 6, 2020 — about 3 million people — will be receiving compensation.

Apple denied any wrongdoing in the case.

The phones at issue in the case are iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus and SE devices running operating systems iOS 10.2.1 or later before Dec. 21, 2017, and iPhone 7 and 7 Plus phones running iOS 11.2 or later before that date.

According to the lawsuit, consumers said their phones were shutting off even though the batteries showed a charge of more than 30%.

The lawsuit claimed the shutdowns resulted from a mismatch between the phones’ hardware, including batteries and processing chips, and the constant updating of operating systems, according to Gizmodo.

Apple tried to fix the problem with a software update, but the update slowed device performance to cut the number of shutdowns, the lawsuit claimed.

Apple admitted to slowing down iOS software on older iPhones in 2017, claiming the software was updated to prevent older batteries from shutting off devices at random intervals, Gizmodo reported. The company said the slowdown was not designed to force consumers to buy new batteries or upgrade to a newer iPhone.

Apple argued in 2019 that lithium-ion batteries deteriorate over time, becoming less effective.

“The settlement is the result of years of investigation and hotly contested litigation,” Mark C. Molumphy, a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, said in the press release.

“We are extremely proud that this deal has been approved, and following the Ninth Circuit’s order, we can finally provide immediate cash payments to impacted Apple customers,” he added.