You Can Now Claim Your iPhone Batterygate Compensation

If you owned an old iPhone in 2017 you can now stake your claim for compensation. Why? Because of Batterygate, which saw Apple slowing down old iPhones. While you’re likely to only receive around $25, you’re still encouraged to take part in this class-action.

Why Was Apple Slowing Down Old iPhones?

For those who have forgotten what this is all about, Batterygate was uncovered in 2017. People noticed their iPhones were slowing down, and after a benchmark comparison proved as much, Apple admitted it was artificially limiting the performance of old iPhones.

To be fair, Apple’s intentions were pure. It was trying to “smooth out the instantaneous peaks […] to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down”. In other words, Apple assumed people would prefer consistent performance over occasional crashes.

Apple eventually apologized for Batterygate and lowered the price of replacement iPhone batteries. However, that didn’t prevent people launching a class action lawsuit, and Apple is on the hook for a total settlement of between $310 million and $500 million.

How to Claim Your Batterygate Compensation

To stake your claim as part of the class-action settlement, you need to visit the Smartphone Performance Settlement website. If you’re eligible to be part of the class-action, you then have various options available to you, including submitting a claim form.

To be eligible, you have to be resident in the US, and have owned “an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, and/or SE device that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later before December 21, 2017, and/or […] an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus device that ran iOS 11.2 or later before December 21, 2017.

As for how much you’ll receive, Apple will “provide a cash payment of approximately $25 per eligible device.” However, with the maximum settlement set at $500 million this figure could drop. Either way, you have until October 6, 2020 to submit your claim.

Buy a Smartphone With Better Battery Life

This class-action settlement should bring the iPhone Batterygate debacle to an end once and for all. But whether or not you believe Apple’s explanation as to why it was slowing down old iPhones, this still raises questions over planned obsolescence.

If battery life is important to you (but you don’t want to go back to using a feature phone) check out our list of the best battery life-stretching smartphones. All of which should last longer than the standard 24 hours offered by most modern smartphones.

Image Credit: Gauthier Delecroix/Flickr

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