Apple Reaches $113 Million Settlement With States Over iPhone Battery Issues
November 19 2020 - 9:28PM
Dow Jones News
By Tim Higgins
Apple Inc. has agreed to a $113 million settlement with more
than 30 states that accused the iPhone maker of concealing issues
with batteries by throttling phone performance with a software
update in 2016.
Attorneys general from Arizona and Indiana, which led the
investigation along with the attorney general of Arkansas, said in
statements Wednesday announcing the proposed deal that it also
requires Apple to provide truthful information to users on its
website and elsewhere about iPhone battery health, performance and
power management.
"Big Tech companies must stop manipulating consumers and tell
them the whole truth about their practices and products," Arizona
Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement. The
investigation was backed by Republican and Democratic officials
from 33 states plus the District of Columbia.
An Apple spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment. In a court document outlining the settlement, the company
denied wrongdoing and said the agreement doesn't represent any
concession that it violated laws or regulations.
The settlement came on the same day Apple announced a partial
concession in its fight over fees it charges app developers to sell
their offerings on its App Store, amid broader regulatory scrutiny
of the power it wields over other companies in its digital
ecosystem. Apple said Wednesday it will halve the 30% fee it
charges for sales through the App Store on developers who take in
up to $1 million in revenue on the platform.
The European Union, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade
Commission are investigating Apple and other tech companies on
antitrust grounds. And a House subcommittee investigating Big Tech
last month accused Apple of wielding anticompetitive power that
harms rivals and benefits itself.
Outside of antitrust issues, the battery issue has been the
source of one of the biggest legal challenges involving the iPhone
since its 2007 debut. Users and analysts in late 2017 started
reporting that older models of the smartphone were showing markedly
slower performance, prompting Apple to acknowledge that December
that it had tweaked its software to curtail the computing power of
some models to prevent unexpected shutdowns caused by aging
batteries.
The company slashed the price for iPhone battery replacements
for the following year. It also issued a rare apology to customers
for how it handled the issue, and denied speculation that the
performance throttling was an effort to pressure customers to
upgrade their devices.
The episode prompted a storm of court action by customers.
Apple early this year agreed to pay as much as $500 million to
settle a class-action lawsuit centered on the battery-throttling
complaints. Under that agreement, which awaits final approval from
the court, Apple would pay owners $25 for every affected iPhone,
with a minimum total of $310 million. Apple denied any wrongdoing
in that case and agreed to a settlement to avoid burdensome and
costly litigation, according to court records.
Write to Tim Higgins at Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 19, 2020 21:13 ET (02:13 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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