Apple’s long-running $500 million lawsuit over the iPhone “batterygate” controversy may finally be coming to an end. On Friday, a judge gave the final go-ahead to allow payments to affected iPhone users to begin. Through this lawsuit, each affected iPhone user that filed a claim will receive around $65.
As reported by The Mercury News, the judge rejected a final appeal which allowed the settlement to finally move ahead. The appeal had come from two iPhone owners who objected to the terms of the deal and sought a bigger payout.
This week, two iPhone owners who objected to the settlement lost their appeal in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over its terms, removing the final obstacle to the deal.
Under the agreement, Apple was to provide the claims administrator with names and contact information for everyone owning or leasing an eligible iPhone. The claims deadline was Oct. 6, 2020.
About 3 million claims were received, and the latest estimate puts compensation at about $65 per claim, said Tyson Redenbarger, a lawyer who represented iPhone customers in the case.
Unfortunately, it’s far too late for you to file a claim as part of the lawsuit. The deadline for doing so was October 6, 2020. Yes, it’s taken this long for the case to finally come to a close and for those payments to begin. Anyone who owned an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, or iPhone SE was eligible to submit a claim.
The lawsuit accused Apple of committing “one of the largest consumer frauds in history” by slowing down iPhone performance as the internal lithium-ion batteries aged. At the time, Apple was forced to issue a public apology, offer discounted battery replacements, and give users the choice of whether or not to enable the feature. Since then, the company has also rolled out new features to iOS designed to mitigate the long-term degradation of battery health.
Apple first agreed to this $500 million settlement back in March of 2020. The company, of course, denied any wrongdoing. The minimum total payout to consumers is $310 million, equating to around $65 for each iPhone buyer that filed a claim.
But while this case in the United States may finally be coming to a close, Apple continues to face fallout around the world. In May, Apple was hit with a $2 billion lawsuit in the United Kingdom over the batterygate controversy. Apple claimed that the lawsuit is “baseless,” but no further developments have emerged since then.
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