Owners of a series of older iPhones in Canada could be eligible for payouts of up to $150 as part of the latest ‘Batterygate’ settlement agreed by Apple.
As part of the ongoing legal fallout from Apple’s controversial software updates, which saw iPhones “throttled” to stop older models from shutting down unexpectedly, Apple is paying out some pretty chunky sums of money in various parts of the world including the U.S., and now Canada. This week, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has approved a settlement of up to $14.4 million, according to CBC. The case was first filed all the way back in 2018, not long after batterygate came to light.
While that might sound like a lot of money, the classes involved in these batterygate payouts are so large that the payments received by affected plaintiffs are often negligible. As the report notes, “Depending on how many people apply for the settlement, claimants will receive between $17.50 and $150.” To be eligible, you need to have bought “an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 7 or 7 Plus with iOS 10.2.1 or later (for iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, or SE) and/or iOS 11.2 or later (for iPhone 7 or 7 Plus) before Dec. 21, 2017.” Full details of how to get involved and seek a payout can be found on the class action’s website.
Apple’s latest batterygate payout
Apple has been paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to iPhone users worldwide over controversial software changes made to the iPhone back in 2017. Starting with the iPhone 6 and 6s, iPhone customers found their iPhones would shut down unexpectedly due to problems with the battery. Spikes in processor activity that drew lots of power from batteries, particularly unhealthy ones, could see iPhones shut off without warning. To try and fix this, Apple introduced “improvements” to iOS 10.2.1 that managed performance to stop these unexpected shutdowns.
This “throttling” of iPhones escalated into an apology in late 2017 from Apple which stated “We've been hearing feedback from our customers about the way we handle performance for iPhones with older batteries and how we have communicated that process. We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There's been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we're making.”
Apple has been sued over batterygate in Spain, Belgium, the UK, and more. Most notably, a successful suit in the U.S. was settled to the tune of $500 million in 2020.
