Apple is battling the ongoing Batterygate Lawsuit, where the customers sued the company after facing performance throttling issues on the devices with the iOS updates. The lawsuit might have reached a settlement where Apple will soon be paying money to its roughly 3 million iPhone owners who filed the claim.

What is the Batterygate Lawsuit?

For those unaware, iPhone users started facing performance throttling issues on their phones after the iOS update back in 2017. Apple responded by admitting that the performance is throttling in iPhones as the battery life degrades. Since customers were not notified about this before the purchase, iPhone users sued the company for not being transparent about the device’s performance changes. They felt forced to buy the latest iPhone for a stable performance and battery life. This was later on called the Batterygate Lawsuit.

Who is Eligible for the claim?

Owners of the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, and the first-generation iPhone SE running on iOS 10.2.1 or above, who submitted the claim back in 2020 will be eligible for the compensation.

How much is Apple paying?

For those wondering, the amount the company will pay out to its roughly 3 million individuals who filed the claims will be around $65 each. It can be higher, as much as $90, depending upon the number of claims submitted.

It is still unclear how the people will get the settlement money or when they can expect to receive it. We will have to wait for Apple to make an official statement. So stay tuned.

RELATED:

• Apple to pay $500 million to settle lawsuit over throttling iPhone performance
• Apple ‘batterygate’ victims in the United States can now claim $25 settlement
• Apple paying $113 million to settle iPhone ‘batterygate’ investigation
• Apple faces a new set of “batterygate” related lawsuits in Europe

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Zoom Video Communications, the company behind the popular Zoom platform, has agreed to pay $85 million and improve its security practices to settle a lawsuit that claimed that the company violated users’ privacy rights.

The lawsuit alleged that the platform shared users’ personal data with Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn. It also talked about letting hackers disrupt Zoom meetings in a practice called “Zoombombing”, reports Reuters.

In the settlement agreement, the company denied wrongdoing. A preliminary settlement still requires approval by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California.

As for the compensation, the subscribers of the platform in the proposed class action would be eligible for 15% refunds on their core subscriptions or $25, whichever is larger while others could receive up to $15.

Apart from monetary compensation, Zoom has also agreed to security measures including alerting users when meeting hosts or other participants use third-party apps in meetings and providing specialized training to employees on privacy and data handling.

Though Zoom collected about $1.3 billion in Zoom Meetings subscriptions from class members, the plaintiffs’ lawyers called the $85 million settlement reasonable given the litigation risks. They intend to seek up to $21.25 million for legal fees.

The usage of Zoom surged during the COVID-19 pandemic as companies and companies, schools, and colleges opted for online meetings instead of in-person conduct. It had 497,000 customers with more than 10 employees in April 2021, a substantial increase from 81,900 in January 2020. But the company says that the user growth could slow or decline as more people get vaccines and return to work or school in person.

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ByteDance, the parent company behind the popular short video social media platform TikTok has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit for $92 million, reports Reuters. The lawsuit is related to the data privacy claims from some users in the United States.

Confirming this development, the company said in a statement: “While we disagree with the assertions, rather than go through lengthy litigation, we’d like to focus our efforts on building a safe and joyful experience for the TikTok community.”

Do note that the settlement still requires court approval. It combines 21 proposed class action lawsuits against TikTok over alleged privacy violations. The lawsuit makes some substantial claims, from allegations that the company analyzed users’ faces to determine ethnicity, gender, and age to alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act over its transmission of private data.

Apart from $92 million, the company has also agreed to avoid several behaviors that could compromise user privacy unless it specifically discloses those behaviors in its privacy policy. It includes storing biometric information, collecting GPS or clipboard data, and sending or storing US users’ data outside the country.

Earlier, in 2019, TikTok had settled a lawsuit over alleged children’s privacy allegations. In the same year, it had paid $5.7 million to the Federal Trade Commission over accusations that its predecessor, Musical.ly didn’t gain parental approval for young users.

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Apple has announced that the company has agreed to pay $113 million to settle lawsuits over allegations that the company secretly throttled or slowed-down performance in older iPhone models — a controversy which is known as ‘batterygate.’

When the reports first came out about Apple slowing down the performance of older models of the iPhone, the company denied them. Later, the company said that it did so in order to extend the battery life.

This was seen as the company’s effort to nudge users to purchase the newer iPhones. Around 34 states in the United States, including Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, and the District of Columbia opened a probe into the matter.

Now, the matter being settled by Apple by agreeing to pay $113 million in a financial penalty and legal commitment to be more transparent in the future. However, as with many such settlements, Apple did not admit to breaking any laws or any other wrongdoing.

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Apple slowing down older iPhone‘s performance was deemed deceptive as the company had never disclosed such information. With slower performance, many users believed that the only option left is to upgrade to the newer model, generating millions of dollars for Apple.

Soon after the throttling issue was made public, Apple apologized and launched a battery replacement program. As a part of that program, it offered batteries for older devices for $29 and also added a new battery management feature to iOS.

Earlier this year, Apple agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding this same matter, by paying $500 million. This meant that the users of iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and SE running iOS 10.2.1 or later would get $25 in compensation.

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Apple has settled a class-action lawsuit filed against the company related to Powerbeats 2 headphones. The tech giant has agreed to pay $9.75 million for this settlement, saying that it denies all allegations, reports MacRumors.

There was no ruling by the court as both the parties in the case have agreed to a settlement. Apple says that it is paying the settlement fee to avoid expensive litigation. As a part of the settlement, the $9.75 million will be split between all plaintiffs who submit claim forms (one payment per household) after attorneys’ fees and related costs are paid.

Customers who have purchased new Powerbeats 2 earbuds before August 7, 2020 can make a claim for payment from the settlement. The claims can be submitted online through the settlement website before November 20, 2020.

The settlement amount will be given based on a points system. Authorized claimants who have no proof of purchase receive one point, while those with a valid proof of purchase or warranty repair receive two points. The net settlement amount will then be divided by total points claimed and the individual awards will be calculated from that amount.

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Latanya Simmons and Kevin Tobin had filed the initial complaint on behalf of a wide class of device owners in 2017. The lawsuit claimed that the company falsely advertised the product’s robustness, waterproofness, and battery life claims.

The lawsuit claimed breach of express warranty, breach of the Song-Beverly Act, violation of the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, violation of the Unfair Competition Law, unjust enrichment, common law fraud, and negligence.

The claimants are eligible for a maximum payout of $189, multiplied by the number of valid proofs of purchase. As per the estimates, claimants without proof of purchase will receive $38, while those with proof of purchase or warranty repair will get around $76.

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A couple of years ago, Apple was sued for secretly throttling the performance of iPhones as it gets older. Earlier this year, the company agreed to settle the class-action lawsuit. Now, the eligible iPhone owners are getting notified about their legal rights and options.

To those who submit a claim, Apple is offering cash payouts of up to $25 to eligible customers who submit a claim. However, the total payout will be between $310 million and $500 million. So, the exact amount that each iPhone owner gets will vary based on the number of claims submitted.

The U.S. residents who own or had previously owned an 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, are eligible.

On top of that, the class members must have experienced “diminished performance” on their devices. All claims must be submitted online or received by letter mail by October 6, 2020, or else payment is forfeited.

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For those who are unaware, the “batterygate” was one of the major fiasco for Apple. After some customers discovered that replacing the battery on older iPhones improved the performance, Apple admitted that it was throttling performance in iPhones as the battery life downgrades, which was not previously disclosed by the company.

Apple says that it settled the case to avoid burdensome and costly litigation and has denied all the allegations. So, the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by Apple, according to the U.S. District Court for Northern California.

Apart from this settlement, Apple has also been fined $27 million by the French regulators and a $5 million by an Italian watchdog group.

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Apple has reportedly agreed to pay about $500 million to settle a lawsuit filed against the company accusing it of slowing down performance of iPhones after the company admitted to throttling performance of older iPhones as it launches new models.

The preliminary proposed class-action settlement still requires approval by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California. If approved, Apple will be paying customers about $25 per iPhone, which may be adjusted up or down depending on how many iPhones are eligible, with a minimum total payout of $310 million.

However, as per the report, Apple denied wrongdoing and settled the nationwide case to avoid the burdens and costs of litigation. It covers U.S. owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7Plus or SE that ran the iOS 10.2.1 or later. It also covers U.S. owners of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017.

The lawsuit emerged after Apple complained about their phone performance getting slowed down after installing Apple software updates. The customers contend that Apple’s software updates intentionally degraded the performance of older models to encourage customers to unnecessarily upgrade to newer models or install new batteries.

On the other hand, Apple said that the problems were mainly due to high usage, temperature changes and other issues. It also added that the company’s engineers tried to address the problems as quickly as possible.

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Apple had earlier admitted that it lowers the clock speed of the processor on iPhones when the battery health degrades but had not mentioned it anywhere and customers were not informed that the company intentionally slows down the iPhone.

If the US-based tech giant had disclosed earlier that it throttles iPhone performance based on the battery health, users could just replace the battery on their device instead of being forced to purchase the new iPhone.

As the issue became public, Apple dropped the cost of battery replacements and also offered partial refunds to some iPhone owners who paid for a new battery. French and Italian authorities have censured Apple for the throttling controversy. France, on the other hand, has also fined Apple $27 million for the same issue.

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(Source)

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