Apple has agreed to a settlement of $500 million due to their purposely slowing down of older model iPhones.
The decision was filed in court on Friday 6 March in Canada, and is awaiting final court approval. The proposed amount will account for small payouts of $25 per handset to customers and members in the US who bought any product in the iPhone 6 and 7 line. The settlement will also include payment to attorneys, which has been quoted at $93 million, plus up to $1.5 million for expenses.
Apple has faced many class action lawsuits between 2017 and 2018 which were compiled into one complaint. This came from the discovery that Apple limited processor speeds as phone batteries aged, whereas users were led to believe that their phones were slowing down solely from age. It wasn’t revealed that Apple had used an intended feature to slow iPhones, or if customers could have replaced the battery to fix this, rather than having to buy a new phone.
Apple was also charged with a €25 million fine for this last month from French authorities. Italy has also censured Apple through a €10 million fine. Apple has since apologised and lowered the cost of battery replacements to $29 from $79.
Full case details can be read here https://www.cohenmilstein.com/case-study/re-apple-inc-device-performance-litigation.