Oliver Haslam·

Apple’s $500 Million iPhone Throttling Lawsuit Settlement Approved Preliminarily

Apple’s March agreement to pay $500 million to settle a class action lawsuit over iPhone throttling has been approved by a judge, according to a report. That will allow things to move on to the next stage.

U.S. District Judge, Edward J. Davila approved everything via a Zoom-based hearing, according to Law360.

But he also said that he will extend the final approval deadlines due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the difficulty it’s causing with court proceedings. The approval hearing is now expected to take place in December.

This all relates to Apple’s decision to throttle iPhones that had particularly old or sub-par batteries in an attempt to ensure that they continued to function. The measure was added in iOS 10.2.1 in 2017 and it’s been a bone of contention ever since it was noticed. The class action suit claims that people bought new phones because they were so slow, with Apple accused of forcing them to do so.

The suits generally allege that the company released a software update that diminished the battery life of older iPhones, just as it rolled out new models. The bugs allegedly prompted some customers to spend hundreds of dollars on new phones, the suits claim.

Whether this will all come to a close as expected is anyone’s guess. Legal situations like this can always take twists and turns. But it’s doubtful that Apple will want the case to drag on any longer than it needs to.

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