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Apple will pay $ 113 million to resolve claims by 33 states in the United States and the District of Columbia that it has slowed down iPhones to hide battery issues and entice users to buy new devices, officials said on Wednesday. State.
The deal with an Arizona-Arkansas-Indiana-led coalition is separate from a proposed settlement Apple reached in March to pay affected iPhone owners up to $ 500 million to stem a class action.
In 2016, Apple quietly updated the software on the iPhone 6, 7, and SE models to slow down chip speeds so that aging device batteries wouldn’t send power spikes to the phone’s processor and cause not its sudden stop. States argued that Apple acted deceptively and should have replaced the batteries or disclosed the problem.
Millions of users have been affected by power outages, according to an Arizona court filing.
“My colleagues and I are trying to get the attention of these big tech companies, and you’re hoping that a multi-million dollar judgment with over 30 states gets their attention,” Arizona Attorney General Mark said. Brnovich in an interview.
“Businesses cannot be dishonest and cover things up,” he added.
Apple, which has denied any wrongdoing, could not be reached immediately for comment.
Apple has also agreed for the next three years to provide “truthful information” about iPhone power management on its website, software release notes, and iPhone settings. Arizona has said that Apple’s current disclosures and options are sufficient. Settlement with the states is subject to court approval.
The multi-state investigation into Apple, first reported by Reuters in July, is part of a wave of polls of the world’s largest technology providers.
Last month, Republican attorneys general from 11 U.S. states joined the U.S. Department of Justice in an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Apple acknowledged that its update reduced energy demand after researchers saw unusual slowdowns in 2017. The company has publicly apologized and slashed prices for battery replacements.
The settlement includes $ 5 million to Arizona, $ 24.6 million to Apple’s original California state, and $ 7.6 million to Texas. The latter two states have the country’s No. 1 and 2 iPhone user bases. Brnovich said the sanction in his state would help fund more investigations of tech and other companies.
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