Apple Reaches Settlement in Class Action Lawsuit
According to fresh court filings seen by The New York Times, Apple has reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit, agreeing to pay $250 million (about Rs. 2,367 crore) in compensation to a select group of iPhone owners in the US, who claimed that the tech giant misled them about their handset’s AI capabilities. The Tim Cook-led company could reportedly pay up to $95 (about Rs. 9,000) per consumer.
Owners of iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max, along with owners of iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, who bought their handset between June 2024 and March 2025, will be eligible to receive compensation from Apple.
The lawsuits against the tech giant were filed last year and were later consolidated into a class action lawsuit by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the report added.
While a settlement has been reached between the plaintiffs and Apple, it reportedly only resolves a “handful” of the lawsuits. Moreover, the agreement is currently between the consumers and Apple, and a district court judge has yet to reportedly approve the same.
Introduced first during the WWDC 2024, most of the AI features remain elusive for several months, while a revamped version of the company’s Siri AI-powered voice assistant isn’t expected to arrive until later this year. After seemingly falling behind in the AI race, Apple started relying on other companies to offer AI-powered features on the latest iPhone models. Currently, its smartphones redirect users to OpenAI’s ChatGPT for complex queries.
On January 13, the company announced that it had entered a multi-year deal with Google to bring the Mountain View-based tech giant’s Gemini AI models and cloud technology to power Apple’s future foundation AI models.
