JANUARY 7, 2024
Apple iPhone 15 plus.
iPhone users who were affected by Apple’s so-called ‘batterygate’ and submitted a claim seeking compensation, have started receiving their payouts from the tech giant, after the iPhone maker agreed to pay up to $500 million in total to settle a lawsuit in this regard.
As per MacRumours, which was the first to report the story, the Tim Cook-led company is giving $92.17 per claim; at least two readers of the website are among those compensated by Apple. Also the payouts are in line with the timeline (‘sometime in January 2024’) set forth in the Settlement Agreement, the publication stated.
What is Apple’s ‘batterygate’?
The lawsuit was filed in December 2017, shortly after Apple confirmed it had been ‘throttling’ the maximum performance of some older iPhone models with ‘chemically-aged’ batteries. This, it said, was done to prevent the devices from ‘unexpectedly shutting down.’
The Cupertino, California-based firm introduced this power management system in iOS 10.2.1, but failed to mention the change in the update’s release notes. The company apologised for this ‘lack of transparency,’ and lowered the price of iPhone battery replacements to $29 for all of 2018.
Throughout this case, however, Apple never admitted to any legal wrongdoing. Additionally, it said that it agreed to the March 2020 settlement only to ‘avoid burdensome and costly litigation.’
Affected iPhone models
The settlement benefits are only for US-based owners of the following iPhone models: 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later; or, those running iOS 11.2 (7, 7 Plus).
The cut-off date is December 21, 2017.
Courtesy: Hindustan Times / PTI
