Apple is a technology company that is monopolizing almost all of the most popular devices. Aside from close seconds such as the Mac and Apple Watch, the annual iPhone steals the cake for the most successful Apple product thus far. Because these phones roll out about every year around September, past generation phones become out of date almost instantly. This distasteful marketing technique creates immense revenue for Apple. In turn, Apple’s supposed shortcuts left customers accusing their phones of malfunctioning the older their model is.

This claim has been circling the web for years, leaving the infamous company no choice but to respond to the accusations. Although lawsuit claims have been processing since 2018, the most recent verdict stated that Apple would be willing to pay a maximum of half a billion dollars to silence the complaints referencing Apple purposely slowing down old phones. In reference to documents released on Friday in the US District Court of San Jose, California, Apple plans to carry out their statement by promising to pay iPhone owners with a specific model (supposedly the 6s) a total of $25 each for fiddling with the battery. In sum, the company is estimated to lose approximately $310 to $500 million.  The amounts will be finalized by a judge on April 3rd, marking the end to a two-year scandal.

  Although many citizens support Apple’s legal apology, some naysayers such as Daniel A. Hanley believe, “Apple may be trying to… appease federal officials to create a repository of goodwill in hopes of mitigating the plethora of antitrust remedies that can be imposed.” 

The complicated claim suggests that some percentage of viewers feel that the company is trying to win back its audience by paying for their business.

The scandal first began back in December of 2017 when the iPhone X, 8, and 8s first surfaced on the market. It was said that many customers and tech analysts felt angered when their phones suddenly began to act up after the new phone’s debut. At the time, the protests were not very vocal, and Apple was able to silence the public by explaining that the sporadic phone shutdowns were due to older lithium-ion batteries instead of the company attempting to cut corners. It wasn’t until December to January of 2018, when the accusations really started to hold weight. 

After admitting that an allegedly very small number of their models of the iPhone 6 had an issue with the battery, the company attempted to approach the problem the same way they did in 2020: bribery. Apple offered battery replacements to its customers for $79 and shortly dropped their prices to just $29. Ever since these two minuscule scandals, the glitches attached to old phones have become even more apparent and discussed in today’s world. Because the matter was never properly addressed back in 2017, the scandal was able to withstand a period of two to three years before a legal order interfered. In hopes of finally putting the situation to rest, a judge will be analyzing the case next month. 

It’s too soon to tell whether these supposed solutions will benefit the scammed Apple customers, or if the whole process is a scam within itself. Nonetheless, stay tuned for the hearing scheduled for April 3rd!