Apple agrees to compensate iPhone users whose phones it slowed down

Chennai: Own an iPhone in the 6, 7 or SE series? Then you know that your phone was slowed down, if you opted for software updates. Apple themselves admitted as much in 2017, but denied any wrongdoing, claiming they released updates to slow down the phones to prevent their aging batteries from shutting down the devices.

Now the company has agreed to pay an amount of USD 500 million to settle a class-action suit in the United States against it, which claimed that the Apple slowed down older phones to push customers to purchase the latest iPhones.

When customers first started flagging the issue of the iPhone slowdown in 2017, it led to an uproar, Apple offered battery replacements at the heavily discounted price of USD 29 from USD 79, which a large numbers of customers opted for. However, it still continued slowing down relatively newer phones. And the issue snowballed into several suits against Apple, which culminated in the class action suit and finally a settlement last Friday.

Are you eligible for a piece of the settlement pie? Yes, only if you possess either of the US iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus and SE models that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later operating systems or iPhone 7 and 7 Plus if they ran iOS 11.2 or later OS, before December 21st, 2017. But hold your horses before you rush to file a claim. All you get is USD 25. Subject to conditions, of course.

If you still want to make a point of being compensated, there’s still one problem. The modalities of filing a claim haven’t been worked out yet. The settlement is in its preliminary stages. Which means you’ll have to wait a while to claim the damages.