by A BC Supreme Court judge has approved a maximum $14.4 million settlement from Apple for eligible members of a class action lawsuit that accused the company of intentionally providing software updates that delayed its iPhone 6 and 7 models.
Apple denies the allegations. The company previously agreed to pay between $11.1 million and $14.4 million as part of the settlement. He says the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing.
Depending on how many people apply for the settlement, claimants will receive between $17.50 and $150. They must provide a serial number for the affected phone.
The settlement applies to residents of all provinces except Quebec. Similar lawsuits have been filed in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The judge ultimately found the proposed settlement to be “fair, reasonable and the best decision of the class,” class counsel Michael Peerless said in an interview with CBC News.
“Apple did the right thing and came forward and, in a sense, stood behind their product without making a legal admission that they did anything wrong. And that’s very normal” for a class action, Peerless said.
Apple customers who purchased an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, SE, 7 or 7 Plus with iOS 10.2.1 or later (for iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, or SE) and/or iOS 11.2 or later (for an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus) before December 21, 2017 to be eligible for the settlement, according to a website representing the class action.
In a similar case in the United States, the company settled with iPhone users whose devices were bogged down by software updates, which reduced the phones’ performance and battery life.
California case settlements ranged from $310 million US to $500 million US.
CBC News has reached out to Apple for comment.
Transparency concerns regarding software updates
Benjamin Tan, an assistant professor of electrical and software engineering at the University of Calgary, said many companies have moved toward updating new software at least every month to fix bugs and add new features.
But those updates can include software that further degrades the phone, causing consumers to buy a new model sooner than they might otherwise.
“There’s a lot in the digital world that we don’t necessarily have full control over anymore, partly because the systems are really complex,” Tan said.
“In this particular case, however, what I think was a concern is that companies don’t always make it clear what they’re updating,” he said.
“And when they don’t announce in advance that these may be some of the side effects that happen to address battery issues or security flaws or something, that’s normal. [when] people say, ‘Come on, what’s going on here? This was really unexpected.'”
‘Tucked away in the sock drawer’
Alex Sebastian, co-founder and COO of Orchard, a Canadian company that resells used iPhones, said his customer service team noticed an increase in reported slowdowns among iPhone 6, 6S and 7 models after the iPhone 8 was delivered. into alongside iOS. 11 in 2017.
“Customers were starting to call in to talk about their phone slowing down and ask what can be done about it, and the short answer is, there wasn’t much we could do to help them out,” a Sebastian told CBC News.
“I think it’s pretty conservative to estimate that 10 million Canadians bought one of those generations of phones, so that’s 10 million potential claimants you have,” he said.
‘Customers were starting to call in to talk about the slowdown on their phone and ask what can be done about it,’ said Alex Sebastian, co-founder and COO of Orchard, a Canadian company that buys and sells used devices. (James Dunne/CBC)
At the time, iPhone users were upgrading their phones on average every 24 to 28 months, he said. Today, the turnover rate is more like 30 to 33 months.
Eligible claimants will be able to apply for a maximum of $150 from the settlement pool, which is more than the cost of replacing a battery on one of the affected phone models today – and on par with the cost of having done so for several years. ago, according to Sebastian.
“I think there’s a lot of results where claimants aren’t getting the full $150, because there’s a $14 cap.[.4] million dollars on the whole settlement,” he said.
“I think a lot of people have probably disposed of their phones by now. But there’s definitely going to be a decent share that put it in the sock drawer, they can find that phone and remove the serial number and do . claim here.”
