Apple has begun issuing financial compensation to its customers in the United States affected by the slowdown of their iPhones due to aging batteries, according to a report by Economic Times.
Following a legal settlement reached by the company in 2020 after a class-action lawsuit in the United States accused Apple of secretly slowing down some iPhone models.
Under the terms of the settlement, Apple is obligated to pay approximately $500 million to affected customers, and has already started sending out compensation to customers who had filed claims with the company earlier.
According to the website MacRumors, Apple sent a financial amount to eligible customers per device proven to be affected by its software updates. The site mentioned that some of its readers were among those who received payments of $92.17 per claim from Apple.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2017, shortly after Apple disclosed that it had throttled the maximum performance of some iPhone models using "chemically aged" batteries as necessary to prevent the devices from unexpectedly shutting down.
Apple apologized for its lack of transparency and temporarily reduced the price of iPhone battery replacements to $29 in 2018.
Since 2017, Apple has faced numerous lawsuits after it officially admitted to reducing the performance of some iPhone models with relatively older batteries to prevent an unexpected shutdown issue. The company introduced a new power management system in the iOS 10.2.1 update at that time without clearly outlining the changes that the update would bring.
Despite its apology for the way it reported the change, Apple has repeatedly denied all allegations and has never admitted any legal wrongdoing. Apple stated that it agreed to the settlement only "to avoid burdensome and costly litigation."
