Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Apple To Pay $113 Million To Settle US Probes Into iPhone "Batterygate"

Apple To Pay $113 Million To Settle US Probes Into iPhone "Batterygate"

The company's mea culpa hardly satisfied critics, including in US Congress, which at the time sharply criticized Apple for throttling devices.
Apple will pay $113 million to settle an investigation by nearly three dozen states in the United States into the tech giant's past practice of slowing customers' old iPhones in an attempt to preserve their batteries.

The company's much maligned throttling efforts drew nationwide scorn when they came to light in 2017, stunning consumers who at the time saw it as an attempt to nudge them into buying newer, more expensive devices. States led by Arizona, Arkansas and Indiana soon opened a probe of the matter, and on Wednesday, they secured a financial penalty and legal commitment from Apple to be more transparent in the future.

"Big Tech must stop manipulating consumers and tell them the whole truth about their practices and products," Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement. "I'm committed to holding these goliath technology companies to account if they conceal the truth from their users."

Investigators from 34 states and the District of Columbia, including Democratic and Republican attorneys general, joined the settlement. Apple declined comment for this story, and its agreement with the states does not require it to admit guilt. The company in 2018 tweaked its settings to make its battery-management practices clearer to users.

In the years before Silicon Valley found itself in the government's crosshairs - and Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, would be regularly called to Congress to testify - the "batterygate" crisis emerged as a signature challenge for the iPhone giant. The saga drew national headlines in 2017, as iPhone users began to discover that some of their older devices experienced slowdowns after they updated to a newer version of iOS, Apple's mobile operating software.

That December, Apple acknowledged the practice, explaining that it had tweaked its technology starting a year earlier so that some older models, including the iPhone 6S, did not shut down unexpectedly or experience other malfunctions due to excessive demands on their dated batteries. The widespread blowback also prompted Apple to issue a public apology - a rarity for the image-conscious tech giant - and to begin offering battery-replacement discounts for consumers.

The company's mea culpa hardly satisfied critics, including in Congress, which at the time sharply criticized Apple for throttling devices. Others filed lawsuits and initiated a flurry of regulatory proceedings against the iPhone maker that only now are reaching their conclusion. This March, Apple settled a multi-year class-action lawsuit by agreeing to pay $500 million, much of which it has set aside for select iPhone users to receive $25 in refunds. (The company, however, did not have to admit fault even as it ended the litigation.) A month earlier, French regulators fined Apple roughly $25 million, arguing the company should have been more forthcoming about its practices.

In the United States, nearly three dozen states shared a frustration with Apple's lack of transparency and embarked on their own probe. A complaint filed Wednesday in Arizona lays bare their concerns that Apple had provided "misleading information" about its iOS updates, particularly through hard-to-understand technical notes about battery management.

Apple's approach ultimately left many users feeling as if the "only way to get improved performance was to purchase a newer-model iPhone from Apple," the Arizona complaint contends. As a result, the company relied on "unfair and deceptive acts and practices" to boost its sales "potentially by millions of devices per year," according to Arizona's attorney general.

Along with the financial penalty, the states also have required Apple to clarify - online, and on iPhones themselves - its practices about battery health and power management. The company has already addressed some of regulators' concerns: A 2018 update to iOS allows users to check the health of their batteries and disable performance throttling. It is tucked away in users' device settings.

In an interview, Brnovich said the settlement in effect could have broader significance, sending a message to the "Googles of the world that, whether (it's) a Republican or Democratic attorney general, we're taking these issues very, very seriously.

"They're not going to be able to run out the clock," Brnovich said. "It doesn't matter if there's a change in administration - people are going to be held accountable, state attorneys general are going to continue to lead the way."
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
×