If they are not ripping off other people’s patents, Apple are forking out tens of millions in fines or settlements and this time it’s set to cost them over A$400M.
After years of waiting iPhone owners who were affected by the ‘BatteryGate’ scandal are set to be paid out over A$477M after Apple management were accused of trying to force owners to upgrade to new devices by throttling back the batteries of tens millions of iPhones 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 7 and 7 Plus smartphones.
More payments could follow if another class action claims are favourable to affected iPhone users who are set to get close to A$100 from the current case.
Victims include both US and Australian owners of iPhones are set to start getting paid out after a massive claim was settled in the USA last week.
Apple management have refused to comment on how many Australians phones they tried to nobble in an effort to get a quick sale of a new device.
Apple agreed to pay at least $400 million to settle the case in March 2021, with more than 2.2 million claims for compensation approved before deduplication.
However, the case brought in the District Court for the Northern District of California has been bogged down in disputes over legal costs.
Now, lawyers for both sides have reached an agreement which could see the case brought to a conclusion soon.
Lawyers are expected to take up to 25% of the settlement amount.
“There are millions of class members who submitted valid settlement claims before the claims submission deadline on October 6, 2020,” read court documents filed on Friday, by US lawyer Mark Molumphy of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs.
“These class members have been waiting for over two years to receive their settlement payments. However, these class members cannot receive any settlement payment until there is a final ruling on the class action settlement.”
The documents state that the earliest hearing date to finally settle costs under the court’s regular calendar would be in April 2023, but that “counsel for Plaintiffs and Defendant have conferred and agree that the hearing on the motions should be advanced to December 16, 2022, or to the earliest date convenient for the Court.”
However, court documents released in 2021 estimated that the 2.2 million successful claimants would each receive around $65.
Apple was accused of deliberately hampering the performance of these handsets in an effort to preserve battery life, something which the company has continually denied.
The case in the Northern District of California is just one of many BatteryGate cases that Apple has faced in the U.S, other cases are pending overseas.
