Have you noticed that the iPhone you've had for years has been running slower? Apple was sued — and lost — for slowing down people's iPhones with software updates. We're not trying to sound like a local law firm, but you may entitled to monetary compensation. In this article, I'll explain how to claim your $25 settlement from Apple if your iPhone battery was throttled and why they're giving out these payments.
The Settlement: Slowing Down Older iPhones
Apple is currently in the midst of a class action lawsuit. Apple agreed to pay a settlement to customers rather than face more serious legal consequences. This means Apple has to pay you $25 if you were impacted by the battery throttling controversy.
So what's this all about? Supposedly, Apple slowed down the processing power of older iPhones to preserve their batteries. By doing so, this slows your iphone down.
While it may seem like a good idea to slow down a phone to preserve its battery life, it's not fun to have a slow phone! This can encourage people to upgrade who wouldn't need to. So, by slowing down older phones, Apple can get more money out of your pocket when you reluctantly decide to upgrade.
Not The First Time
This isn't the first time that Apple has slowed down iPhones for their customers. According to CNN, they even admitted that they were doing it in 2017. However, they claimed that this was to prevent phones from suddenly shutting down due to issues with their batteries.
This wasn't intended to help users just get better battery life on a day-to-day basis, but to help them get more lifetime out of their batteries over long periods of time. In response to the issue, they decreased the prices of replacement batteries from $79 to $29.
Planned Obsolescence
When a company releases software updates that cause devices to run slower than they used, planned obsolescence. Usually, it's done without the owner's knowledge or permission. As you can probably guess, this concept isn't very popular among iPhone users. Many claim that their phones have been intentionally slowed down by Apple.
What Phones Are Affected?
The settlement applies to the following smartphones that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later before .
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 Plus
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone SE
If you owned an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus before that ran iOS 11.2 or later (yours probably did), you also may be eligible to get paid by Apple. You must be a citizen of the United States to apply.
How Much Does Apple Have To Pay?
According to the litigation website, Apple has to pay a minimum of $310 million, and a maximum of $500 million. That's a lot of money!
Unfortunately, that's not all going in your pocket. It's distributed between many customers, and a few lawyers. If you file a claim, you can expect to receive $25 in compensation. The lawyers get $93 million. Fair? You be the judge.
How Do I Get Paid?
You'll need to submit a request online through this form to get paid $25 from Apple. You'll need your old iPhone's serial number or the Apple ID you used with the device.
If you're not sure which devices are linked to an Apple ID, you can check on appleid.apple.com. Just look in the Devices section about halfway down the page.
There is a time limit, however. You'll need to file your claim before October 6th, 2020 in order to be elligible for compensation. As of the writing of this article, that's still a few months away, but you should file your claim as soon as you can to be on the safe side.
Go Claim $25!
Imagine what you can do with $25 cash. You could get lunch for yourself and a friend, or maybe go buy a new case for your current phone. Thank you for reading, and let us know in the comments what you'd use that money for!
