How’d you like to get some cash from Apple? If you owned or still have one of a half dozen older iPhone models, you actually can. And you should. In fact, you deserve it.
As part of a proposed settlement over the company’s Batterygate controversy, in which Apple deliberately prevented chips in older iPhones from reaching their full processing power under certain conditions, the company has agreed to make payments totaling up to $500 million overall. Based on how many claims are submitted, this should break down to up to $25 per claimant, which you should most definitely collect if you qualify.
So, who qualifies?
Do you or did you have an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, or an iPhone SE that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later before December 21, 2017? Then you’re qualified.
Did you own an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017? Then you qualify, too!
All you have to do is file your claim at SmartphonePerformanceSettlement.com. You just need the serial number for your device. If you no longer have the phone, no problem. You’re still entitled to the money. The site can look up the serial number based on your Apple ID, name, and address.
If you were the owner of more than one of those devices, you can file a claim for each device and get up to $25 for each. All claims must be submitted by October 6, 2020.
A lot has happened since Batterygate was the big scandal, so here’s a quick refresher.
Back in late 2016, Apple found itself embroiled in controversy after it was discovered that the company was secretly slowing down some user’s phones. Some iPhones would even shut down well before hitting zero percent battery life.
At the time, the company said iOS was programmed to do this in order to preserve the battery health on some phones. Apple also said some of the issues were do to a battery manufacturer defect. If you’ll recall, throughout 2018, Apple was offering a reduced-price battery replacement program for users with these iPhone models.
Critics of Apple’s throttling mechanism hit the company for not informing users that this was happening or allowing consumers to control whether they wanted this setting turned on or off. Apple was even hit with fines in countries like France and Italy over Batterygate. Dozens of lawsuits were filed against the company over the controversy as well.
Apple previously offered an apology over the Batterygate issue. However, at least for me, the best apology comes now in the form of actual cash.