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Apple to fork out up to $US500 million for ‘slow’ iPhones

In a battle that's been raging for three years, it looks like Apple will finally be forced to pay out customers for deliberately slowing down old iPhones through updates.

In a battle that's been raging for three years, it looks like Apple will finally be forced to pay out customers for deliberately slowing down old iPhones through updates. Photo: Getty

Apple could pay as much as $US500 million to wind up a class action law suit that saw it accused of deliberately slowing down older iPhones.

It all stems back to 2017, when users of the iPhone 6, iPhone 6S, iPhone SE and iPhone 7 noticed their devices were performing considerably slower after downloading an operating system update.

The proposed settlement (which equals about $763 million) would pay the owners of these models about $US25  per affected device, according to documents from the San Jose district court in California.

The tech giant agreed to crunch at least $US310 million but strenuously denied the settlement was an admission of guilt.

Apple at the time said the update was designed to “smooth out” peak power demands, prevent surprise shutdowns, and ultimately prolong the life of batteries.

Various class actions – including some lodged in Australia – have alleged Apple rolled out the upgrade to deliberately slow down older devices, forcing users into buying newer versions of the handsets, when there was mechanically nothing wrong with the older phones.

Eventually, the company apologised – kind of.

It said the slow-down prevented the phones from suddenly turning off when a battery could not provide enough power.

Apple subsequently lowered the price for the exchange of batteries and issued information to its customers.

-with AAP

Topics: Apple
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