Apple wants to avoid going into lengthy court proceedings. For that reason, it agreed to pay up to $500 million as a preliminary settlement. Although the company denied any wrongdoing, it simply wants to end the lawsuit.
Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash
How Much will iPhone Owners Get as Part of the Settlement?
Owners of those older iPhones would get between $25 and $500 per device. The company will pay at least $310 million. But it will pay a maximum fine of $500 million.
But the company will only pay to US owners of Apple iPhone 6 variants, 7 variants, and SE devices that run iOS 10.2.1 or later.
Apple’s 2017 iOS Software Updates
Apple explained that the throttling was necessary to prevent iPhones from powering off unexpectedly.
When you first used your iPhone, it was shiny and loads fast. A few years later, you will notice that it is sluggish. But this is the effect of iPhone throttling.
It reduces system performance to prevent overheating. However, it is not the case with iPhones. Apple utilizes this trick to minimize peak power demand. Without it, the iPhone will run the risk of shutting itself down.
The lithium-ion battery powers most smart devices these days. Its capacity goes down as the charge cycles build up. When it loses its capacity, it also loses its ability to offer peak power then the device’s processor demands it.
In a statement in 2017, Apple said that:
“Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.”
Because of this controversy, Apple allowed users to disable the said feature manually by releasing iOS 11.3 through the battery health feature. Under the battery setting, you can check how much original capacity remains and know whether or not it needs throttling.
If your device is throttled, you will find it there. You can also see an option to disable it.
You can continue using your device or you can choose to replace your battery. On the other hand, if you have the budget, you can simply upgrade to a new iPhone. In 2018, the company placed a $29 price tag for battery replacements.
Going back to the lawsuit, non-US iPhone owners will not receive anything from Apple. But they can file their claims. Between 2017 and 2018, there were 66 separate class-action suits against the said company. But they were later merged into one suit.
There is no information yet on how those affected iPhone owners to claim a piece of the money. The lawyers who represented the class-action suit are seeking up to $93 million for attorney’s fees and a maximum of $1.5 million for their out-of-pocket expenses.
The settlement still needs approval from the court.
The latest iPhone models are using smarter battery performance. In this way, throttling will no longer be a problem.
