Apple will pay $500 million to settle cases claiming it throttled aging iPhones

Apple has agreed to pay an amount of $500 million to settle multiple class-action lawsuits for slowing down older iPhones. According to Reuters, the Cupertino-based firm will roughly pay $25 per eligible iPhone, with a minimum fine of $310.

You can file a claim and expect to get some amount from Apple. The claim cover will any US-based owner of iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7Plus or SE that ran iOS 10.2.1 or above; it’ll also cover owners of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus with iOS 11.2 before December 21, 2017. The final amount of penalty will depend upon the number of people filing claims. 

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In 2017, the company admitted to throttling older iPhones with aging batteries to supposedly prevent unexpected shutdowns. Several angry customers filed lawsuits that year and the next year.

To pacify customers, Apple agreed to replace batteries of select phones at a discounted price of $29. Plus, it also provided an iOS feature to turn off the performance slowdown. With its iOS 11 update, the iPhone-maker also added functionality to give you more detailed information about your device’s battery.

Last month, France slapped the company with a $27 million fine for the throttling controversy; Italy asked Apple to pay $11.4 million in 2018.

While $500 million wouldn’t bother a cash-rich company like Apple, the outcome shows the importance of being transparent with customers.