WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2020) A coalition of US state attorney generals has secured a $113 million settlement with Apple for its "throttling" of consumers' iPhone speeds to prevent unexpected shutdown of the devices, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said in a statement Wednesday.
"A coalition of over 30 other attorneys general announced a $113 million settlement with Apple Inc. regarding Apple's 2016 decision to throttle consumers' iPhone speeds in order to address unexpected shutdowns in some iPhones," Schmitt said.
He said Missouri will receive $3.4 million from the settlement, which also required Apple to provide "disclosures of truthful information" to consumers about iPhone battery health, performance, and power management in various forms on its website, in update installation notes, and in the iPhone user interface itself.
The multistate investigation was led by the attorneys general of Arizona, Arkansas, and Indiana, and supported by an executive committee including the attorneys general of Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
Breaking down the case, Schmitt said Apple discovered that battery issues were leading to unexpected shutdowns in iPhones and rather than disclosing these issues or replacing batteries in the devices, the company concealed the issues from consumers.
He said Apple's concealment ultimately led to a software update in December 2016 that reduced iPhone performance in an effort to keep the phones from unexpectedly shutting down.
The attorneys general had also alleged that Apple's concealment of the battery issues and decision to throttle the performance of consumers' iPhones led to the company profiting from selling additional iPhones to consumers whose phone performance Apple had slowed.
Apple has entered into a proposed settlement of class action litigation related to the same conduct, and under that, will pay out up to $500 million in consumer restitution.
