Apple has just settled a lawsuit by paying $500 Million, where they were accused of slowing down their older iPhones in order to make their customers purchase new ones. The agreement is to be approved by a judge on April 3rd, and will seal the end of a legal battle that has been going on for more than two years, where Apple received backlash internationally.

This is not the first time Apple has been accused of slowing their phones down, and it’s not the first time they’ve tried to make up for it. In December of 2017, the tech giant officially confirmed that they have used their software updates to intentionally slow down older iPhone models, after a multitude of claims from angry customers noticed how the performance of their phones was diminished after installing updates. 

Some angry customers claimed that Apple did this to deliberately force their customers into upgrading their phones to newer models, but the company denied this, by suggesting that the updates were aimed at addressing issues with their older batteries made of lithium-ion. The batteries could have made the phones shut down to protect components. 

The company also added that the software updates for their iPhone 6 or 7 titles were designed to “smooth out” their higher power demands, but can lead to speeds that customers could find disappointing. At the time, the statement also claimed that they would use the feature in the future with upcoming models, a claim which has since changed.

In 2018, Apple frantically tried to satisfy and apologize to their customers after revealing their actions from behind the scenes. They offered their customers $29 replacement batteries, as opposed to their regular $79 replacement batteries, but was only an available opportunity until the end of 2018. 

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, admitted that revenue for the company in 2018 was somewhat hit by their significantly reduced pricing. 

Apple has agreed to pay the owners of certain iPhone models $25 per affected device, which extends from a total of $310 million to $500 million. The intended amount could either increase or decrease according to how many claims were filed or how many legal fees were approved by the court. 

iPhone users across the United States will be able to file settlement claims if they own, or owned, an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, iPhone 7, 7 Plus or SE that was bought before December 21, 2017.