Apple Starts Sending 'Batterygate' Settlement Payments to iPhone Users

[MacRumors]

Apple in 2020 agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a class action lawsuit in the U.S. that accused the company of "secretly throttling" some iPhone models, and payouts finally started going out this week to individuals who submitted a claim.

The website for the so-called "batterygate" settlement said payments would likely start to be distributed this January, and payouts have began on schedule. MacRumors readers Ken Strand and Michael Burkhardt are among the individuals who have received payments of $92.17 per claim from Apple as part of the settlement.

The lawsuit was filed in December 2017, shortly after Apple revealed that it throttled the maximum performance of some iPhone models with "chemically aged" batteries when necessary to prevent the devices from unexpectedly shutting down. Apple introduced this power management system in iOS 10.2.1, but it initially failed to mention the change in that update's release notes. Apple apologized about its lack of transparency, and temporarily lowered the price of iPhone battery replacements to $29 in 2018.

Despite apologizing over the way it communicated the change, Apple repeatedly denied all allegations and never admitted to any legal wrongdoing. Apple said it agreed to the settlement only to "avoid burdensome and costly litigation."

The class included any U.S. resident who owned an affected iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and/or iPhone SE that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later, and/or an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later, before December 21, 2017. The deadline to submit a claim for a payment was in October 2020.

Apple continues to have a performance management system on the iPhone 6 and newer.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1743663751146946929

Article Link: Apple Starts Sending 'Batterygate' Settlement Payments to iPhone Users

 

[CWallace]

One of the times Apple's penchant for secrecy bit them on the bum. It would likely have been seen as positive PR if they had been upfront as to why they were doing it - "rather than have your phone suddenly shut down, we're going to limit how much power it can draw for a short period of time".

 

[bulbousnub]

Woke up to three (Two 6 Plus and a 7 plus) $92.17 deposits this morning and was very confused but also very happy.

 

[Yrmmont]

What will the settlement be? $5 or free three months of Apple Music?

 

[scrapesleon]

Those 92 dollar payment hitting alright twice

 

[Joe Rossignol]

What will the settlement be? $5 or free three months of Apple Music?

$92.17 per approved claim. The deadline was in October 2020.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

Is $92.17 the amount of the settlement payment? That’s not insignificant for a settlement check lol

I got my claim submitted a while ago so I should be receiving a check in the mail soon

 

[dannyyankou]

I was wondering why I got a direct deposit of $92.17

 

[Mlrollin91]

I haven’t got a clue the method I requested for payment. My guess is physical check. Hopefully those are shortly behind.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

$92.17 per approved claim. The deadline was in October 2020.

That’s much higher than I thought it was going to be, when I submitted the claim I was told around $30-$40 but I can’t remember the exact amount

 

[bulbousnub]

Is $92.17 the amount of the settlement payment? That’s not insignificant for a settlement check lol

I got my claim submitted a while ago so I should be receiving a check in the mail soon

Correct. Here's a screenshot of my 3 payouts from this morning.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

Correct. Here's a screenshot of my 3 payouts from this morning.

View attachment 2333393

Did you have to give them your bank account information in order to get the direct deposit? I don’t recall entering that information when I filled out the claim so I figure I might get a settlement check in the mail instead

 

[ckurt25]

Now I can stop wondering what that deposit was for.

 

[bulbousnub]

Did you have to give them your bank account information in order to get the direct deposit? I don’t recall entering that information when I filled out the claim so I figure I might get a settlement check in the mail instead

I checked my original email and it just says Payment Method: Digital Payment so I'm assuming I gave direct deposit info but also don't 100% remember since these were submitted back in July 2020.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

Yeah, I filled out the claim a few years ago and I thought I originally read that the claim payment could be somewhere in the $25-$50 range (making it worth my time😂) but I just saw this article from August of this year where the claim was estimated at $65. I’m glad that it’s even higher than that😁

www.fastcompany.com/90938934/apple-iphone-battery-gate-settlement-payout-what-to-know

 

[dynamojoe]

Three claims here, three payouts. The sad yet fun part is that Apple is probably just going to get this money back later on.

 

[slomtbr]

What will the settlement be? $5 or free three months of Apple Music?

I really hope not - I don't need Apple screwing with my music library.

 

[gnipgnop]

The tech media STILL can't report on this issue correctly.

Throttling was not just for end-of-life batteries. It was also for new batteries that were operating below 20% charge or were operating in cold temperatures. All three of those scenarios could result in voltage demands that the battery couldn't supply which could potentially do permanent damage to the phone hardware.

This was always one of the stupidest lawsuits from a consumer perspective. Without throttling, the phone would simply shut off in either of those three scenarios. All the throttling did was allow the user to continue what they were doing albeit in a slower speed.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

I checked my original email and it just says Payment Method: Digital Payment so I'm assuming I gave direct deposit info but also don't 100% remember since these were submitted back in July 2020.

Good idea, thanks

I just pulled up my email and it says that I submitted it on July 15, 2020 and it specifies that it will be a mailed check👌😎

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I checked my original email and it just says Payment Method: Digital Payment so I'm assuming I gave direct deposit info but also don't 100% remember since these were submitted back in July 2020.

Thanks for the info. Just checked my original claim and it says mailed check so I suppose I need to keep an eye out for it..

 

[vegetassj4]

Mine hasn't shown up yet and I gave them my Apple Savings Acct: #

I tried asking Siri:

 

[coolfactor]

Three claims here, three payouts. The sad yet fun part is that Apple is probably just going to get this money back later on.

$500 million is nothing to sneeze at. The only reason that they agreed to that is because we all pay for it in the end.

1. People are happier with Apple because they got a payout, so they are more likely to buy from Apple again.
2. Prices go up for everyone to finance this.

Money is nice, but this lawsuit did force them to take a hard look at how thin they were making the batteries. Shortly after, they released the XR and it had amazing battery life.

 

[UltimateSyn]

I think I forgot to submit one of those claims, but glad others are finally seeing something…

Can we get those keyboard settlement checks next?

 

[everybodylovesramen]

i have three claims in - and it says digital payment- and i haven’t seen them yet. soooo

maybe next week?

also there is the icloud settlement too.

 

[gnipgnop]

The sad yet fun part is that Apple is probably just going to get this money back later on.

No, the sad part is that Apple had to pay people for an issue that has 100% to do with the limitations of lithium ion battery technology and 0% to do with Apple.