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Apple Agrees to $500 Million Settlement for Slowing Down Older iPhones

The company admitted to slowing down older models when the battery aged.

Apple tentatively agreed to a $500 million settlement after disclosing that it slowed down older iPhones and did not notify owners of the battery-conserving feature. According to The Verge, the settlement—currently awaiting final approval in California court—will resolve dozens of class action lawsuits filed in 2017 and 2018 about the issue. Current and former owners of the iPhone 6 and 7 will be offered $25, while named class action members in the lawsuits will receive $1,500 or $3,500. About $90 million of the minimum $310 million payout will go toward the attorneys. The settlement maximum is $500 million. In 2017, iPhone users discovered the device’s software limited processor speeds as phone batteries aged, leading customers to believe the aging phone was leading to low performance—rather than an aging battery. In the lawsuits, users claimed they bought new devices to fix the issue when they could have just replaced the battery.