An Apple logo hangs at a Palo Alto, Calif., Apple store on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Noah Berger
VANCOUVER – A lawyer for a group of iPhone owners says a British Columbia judge has approved a countrywide multimillion-dollar settlement with tech giant Apple over software updates that allegedly slowed down older devices.
Lawyer K.S. Garcha says class members who make claims on the $14.4-million settlement can expect to receive between $17.50 and $150 each, depending on how many people submit a claim for the settlement money.
The settlement covers eligible residents of Canada except those in Quebec, which Garcha says could reach nine million people.
He says the settlement process took a couple of years, with Apple agreeing to a “compromise” without admitting any wrongdoing.
Garcha says the class-action lawsuit was a “complex matter” involving novel legal theories about the company putting software on devices without the owners’ consent.
The B.C. lawsuit was originally filed in 2018, and Apple settled a similar case in the United States involving so-called throttling of iPhone 6 and 7 models, and Garcha says American class members ended up with US$92 payouts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2024.
