Apple to pay $113 million to settle iPhone ‘battery gate’ lawsuit

Back in 2017, Apple found itself in a controversial position, after it became public that Apple had been quietly throttling the speed of older iPhones. While this was done in order to slow the effects of battery ageing, Apple still found itself in the middle of a class action lawsuit, which has now been settled three years later. 

This week, Apple settled the ‘battery gate' class-action lawsuit in the US, agreeing to pay out $113 million across 34 different states.

In these states, attorneys argued that Apple intentionally hid performance throttling and details of battery degradation from the public. By doing this, they allege that Apple was profiting off of people who were tricked into thinking they needed a new iPhone, when really they just needed a much cheaper battery replacement. Apple's lawyers of course deny that this is the case.

As pointed out by The Verge, a judge has yet to approve the $113 million settlement but once that is all sorted, eligible iPhone owners will be able to claim a piece of the pie.

KitGuru Says: The idea of intentional performance throttling to push consumers into upgrading their devices has been floating around for years now. With that in mind, I'm not surprised these lawsuits cropped up despite Apple's explanations. 

Become a Patron!