While Apple is caught up in the middle of a heated lawsuit with Epic Games, the company is resolving another lawsuit around its products. According to the BBC, Apple is paying a settlement of $113 million to resolve allegations that the company allegedly altered the battery life of the iPhone 6, 7, and SE models to be slower than they should be.
The lawsuit was started by 33 US states who claimed that Apple was purposely slowing battery life and overall performance in past iPhone models for profit. The states claim that Apple did this to incentivize customers to purchase the next iPhone model they create. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich stated in a public court document how doing this led customers to believe they needed to purchase the newer model to get better performance from their phones.
The states brought up the March 2016 “batterygate” scandal that highlighted this element of Apple’s iPhone models 6, 7, and SE. At the time, Apple faced a class-action lawsuit after millions of people experienced shortages of battery life in their respective iPhones, which is ironic given the leaks for the Apple iPhone 13 supposedly having a longer battery life. Back then, the company commented that the phones were deliberately slowed down to preserve the phones’ aging battery life due to software updates “throttling” their chip speeds.
Apple paid a $500 million settlement to the affected slowed down iPhone users and the case is rearing its head again. The matter of Apple altering its phones’ battery life would come up again in 2017, when researchers discovered the unusual slowdowns in the phones. Apple would later admit to this after the fact, which is why the 33 states argue the company knowingly did so for financial gain. The company denies these claims and agreed to pay the settlement.
However, in the settlement, the company denies any wrongdoing or breaking any laws when modifying its Apple products. The company did agree to provide “truthful information” on iPhone battery life on its websites, update notes, and iPhone settings for the next three years. Whether it will continue to do so afterward is not stated.
Apple is no stranger to lawsuits but the allegations levied against the company’s phones aren’t going away anytime soon. Currently, Apple’s lawsuit with Epic Games over the business with Fortnite isn’t going so great either, as the company faces another claim about Apple’s App Store commissions. The legal battle between the two continues to get more attention with more developments. Whether Apple will pay a settlement similarly to past lawsuits will be determined in time.
Source: BBC
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