Apple Agrees to $500 Million Settlement for Slowing Down Older iPhones

In 2017, Apple openly admitted that, yes, it slowed down older iPhones on purpose... but not to steal your lunch money. The company claimed that so-called "performance throttling" was meant to "prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down." Some customers and lawyers, however, took the tech giant to court over the issue, and now, Apple is agreeing to pay up. 

The good news? If a court approves the settlement, Apple will pay out as much as $500 million. That ends up coming out to about $45 per eligible iPhone, according to a report by The New York Times. The bad news? The new iPhones are still cooler than your older model. I mean, triple-lens camera? Damn. 

That said, the eligible models included in settlement are the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus or SE that ran the iOS 10.2.1 or later operating system, as well as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017.

Apple has never really fessed up, claiming instead that the settlement will allow the company to avoid further legal costs. So, if you don't wind up with an extra $25, you can at least take a page from Apple's book next time there's trouble in paradise. That is, if you've been fighting for three years over the same thing, buy your partner something moderately priced and let it go. 

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Ruby Anderson is a News Writer for Thrillist.