Apple Agrees to Front $500M to Settle iPhone Slowdown Class-Action Lawsuit

[btarunr]

Apple late last week agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it of slowing down iPhones without the knowledge or consent of users, motivating them to upgrade their devices or batteries. The settlement amount is marked at USD $500 million or $25 per member of the class (which could be adjusted depending on how many iPhones from the class are found eligible). The lawsuit is being heard by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, and its settlement offer by Apple is subject to his approval.

In the settlement offer papers by Apple, the company reportedly denies wrongdoing, and seeks to avoid the burdens and costs of litigation. Eligible members of the class are U.S. owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus or SE that ran the iOS 10.2.1 or later operating system. It also covers U.S. owners of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before Dec. 21, 2017. Initial outcry after discovery of Apple's secret CPU throttling cause the company to apologize for the practice, promise transparency in the future, and introduce the "Battery Health" feature in iOS that informs users of the decay of their device's lithium ion battery (ability to hold charge), and give performance throttling control to end-users.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[the54thvoid]

I would love to see the breakdown of these settlement cases. The amount per claim and the 'fees' paid to the lawyers. On the face of it you think folk are going to get a nice payout but it doesn't work that way.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I would love to see the breakdown of these settlement cases. The amount per claim and the 'fees' paid to the lawyers. On the face of it you think folk are going to get a nice payout but it doesn't work that way.

Besides the lawyers the only people that get paid are the founders of the class action... The lawyers will get like 30%, the founding members will get about 10% and everyone else gets $3... Lol

 

[bug]

USD $500 million or $25 per member of the class

So there are at least 20mn affected parties. Assuming only 20% of these bought a new phone because of the slowdown, Apple sold and extra 4mn phones, because of their practices. If they sold the phones for $500 (which we know is low), that's $2bn extra revenue generated by the practice. And now they're willing to part with $500mn. It's like the justice system is there to encourage these practices, not curb them.

 

[R0H1T]

So there are at least 20mn affected parties. Assuming only 20% of these bought a new phone because of the slowdown, Apple sold and extra 4mn phones, because of their practices. If they sold the phones for $500 (which we know is low), that's $2bn extra revenue generated by the practice. And now they're willing to part with $500mn. It's like the justice system is there to encourage these practices, not curb them.

Well it's not like we've not seen this happen with Intel, Nvidia, QC, big tobacco besides of course Oil & Gas. The law is literally made paid for by big money & corporate interests, so this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone knowing how the US DoJ works these days or indeed judiciary in most "democratic" nations!

 

[bug]

Well it's not like we've not seen this happen with Intel, Nvidia, QC, big tobacco besides of course Oil & Gas. The law is literally made paid for by big money & corporate interests, so this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone knowing how the US DoJ works these days or indeed judiciary in most "democratic" nations!

Well, that. But why bother with all the process and expenses then?

 

[biffzinker]

Besides the lawyers the only people that get paid are the founders of the class action... The lawyers will get like 30%, the founding members will get about 10% and everyone else gets $3... Lol

From Techspot's news post: "The attorneys are looking for fees up to $93 million, plus $1.5 million to recoup expenses."

 

[R0H1T]

Well, that. But why bother with all the process and expenses then?

Appearances, surely the judiciary can't "let them off the hook" otherwise the masses will revolt! Just kidding about the last part, because most will go on with their lives happily binging on the lifetime supply of iPhones on or near "0% EMI"

Also these days you have to pay to get paid, if you know what I mean.

 

[bug]

Appearances, surely the judiciary can't "let them off the hook" otherwise the masses will revolt! Just kidding about the last part, because most will go on with their lives happily binging on the lifetime supply of iPhones on or near "0% EMI"

Also these days you have to pay to get paid, if you know what I mean.

Still better than the Middle Ages, I guess

 

[bonehead123]

This whole situation brings to mind the old adage that says "everything is legal, until you get caught", which clearly seems to be the case here...

 

[bug]

This whole situation brings to mind the old adage that says "everything is legal, until you get caught", which clearly seems to be the case here...

I believe it was quite a shock for Apple to be caught at all. Apple users don't usually question the products, they welcome anything their overlords will throw at them (e.g. buying 2-3 generations of hardware back when the software couldn't/wouldn't copy/paste).

 

[ssdpro]

Still funny the explanation of "battery saver" is still tossed around. Meanwhile, walk by the Apple Store in your area and look at the people. What are all those people doing just standing and staring at phones and ipads anchored down to tables? They already have a phone - what are they looking at on a public demo product? And why are they looking at it for hours at a time multiple days a week?

 

[bonehead123]

What are all those people doing just standing and staring at phones and ipads anchored down to tables? They already have a phone - what are they looking at on a public demo product?

I seem to recall seeing somewhere that employees are not allowed to bring their personal devices into the store while on duty.... I think it was in the lawsuit about them not paying employees for the time spent on bag searches at the end of their shifts....

 

[Totally]

On that note aren't owners of Intel process entitled to compensation.

 

[Deleted member 178884]

On that note aren't owners of Intel process entitled to compensation.

Aren't owners of the zen2 arch entitled for compensations for the lack of being able to hit boost clocks out of the box for months? ; )

 

[Totally]

Aren't owners of the zen2 arch entitled for compensations for the lack of being able to hit boost clocks out of the box for months? ; )

Was resolved and not a permanent performance hit in order to patch the security flaws due to negligence. Not really in the same league but okay.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

They are only sorry that they got caught.

Nothing stopped them from giving the end-user those functions right from the start.

 

[Flanker]

I believe it was quite a shock for Apple to be caught at all. Apple users don't usually question the products, they welcome anything their overlords will throw at them (e.g. buying 2-3 generations of hardware back when the software couldn't/wouldn't copy/paste).

There are those who are forced to use Apple products. I used to work at a place with Apple being our client. Apple staff would only send instant messages with iMessage, so all our staff are not-so-subtly forced to buy iPhones. The company would only let me borrow an iPhone 5s, which was a daily challenge for me to not throw it at a wall.

 

[InhaleOblivion]

About time this happened. *waits for $25 check in the mail*...oh that's right I never bought an iPhone before. I only have fixed them far too many times to count.