Get your Refund today: Apple "Reaches" Settlement to Pay $15 to Some iPhone 4S Owners Who Experienced Buggy Performance After iOS 9 Update

[darknessblade]

Summary

 Apple Reaches Settlement to Pay $15 to Some iPhone 4S Owners Who Experienced Buggy Performance After iOS 9 Update

 

Quotes

Quote

Apple has agreed to settle a long-lasting six-year class-action lawsuit that accused it of knowingly slowing down iPhone 4S devices following the iOS 9 update in 2015, agreeing to pay some ‌iPhone‌ 4S owners who had experienced poor performance $15 each for their claims.

The class-action lawsuit was initially filed in December 2015 by plaintiffs representing a group of ‌iPhone‌ 4S customers from New York and New Jersey. The lawsuit accused Apple of falsely marketing the iOS 9 update as providing enhanced performance on devices it supports, including the ‌iPhone‌ 4S.

• Plaintiffs collectively filed the operative Complaint in this action alleging that the Class was harmed when consumers downloaded iOS 9 onto their iPhone 4S devices after being exposed to Apple’s allegedly false description of the new operating system. Plaintiffs contend that Apple misrepresented that iOS 9 was compatible with the iPhone 4S and would improve or “enhance performance” for its customers that downloaded the software update. Instead, Plaintiffs contend, iOS 9 significantly slowed down the performance of their iPhone 4S devices.

Apple marketed iOS 9 with the tagline "The most advanced mobile experience. Now even more so." The update included proactive Siri Suggestions, Slide Over, Split View, Picture in Picture on iPad, etc. On the ‌iPhone‌, Apple promised "under-the-hood refinements [that] bring you more responsive performance." The class-action lawsuit argues that the claim was false marketing for the ‌iPhone‌ 4S, the oldest ‌iPhone‌ iOS 9 supported.

 

My thoughts

Disclaimer: Please note: As I am as Anti-apple as it can get. My opinion might be Biased.

------

It was already known for a loong time that apple was Killing off older devices by updates that slow it down, so you are forced to buy a new one.

They even got fined for this, yet they still continued to do it. trying to brush it under the rug, that there was no issue. So it is good that they are now forced to pay users of a "Eligible" Iphone 4S a settlement fee.

 

Yet there where still many more devices where they pulled the same kind of trick, so lets wait for all other Iphone users/owners to get a settlement fee as well for their later devices where apple tried to pull the same trick.

 

It is also quite sad that they go by the current 2nd hand market price, and not the 2nd hand market price at the time of filing the lawsuit, meaning users could have gotten more money for their old obsolete devices.

 

Sources

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/05/05/apple-settlement-iphone-4s-owners/

 

Apple fined for slowing down older devices {BatteryGate}

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate

https://www.techradar.com/news/apple-might-be-slowing-down-your-old-iphone-on-purpose

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42508300

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54996601

 

 

Older articles

https://9to5mac.com/2015/09/23/will-ios-9-slow-down-my-phone/

https://osxdaily.com/2015/09/18/slow-ios-9-speed-up-tips/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/24/iphone-slow-ios-9-update-iphone-4s-iphone-5-iphone-5s

https://www.cultofmac.com/404282/5-million-lawsuit-asks-did-ios-9-cripple-iphone-4s-devices/

[da na]

Wish I hadn't sold my 4S now, would've made as much money this way!

[linkboy]

17 hours ago, Mel0nMan said:

Wish I hadn't sold my 4S now, would've made as much money this way!

I still actually have my old Verizon model. Found it in a box in my storage unit a few years ago.

[Giganthrax]

Apple truly is the company of all time.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Now... how much did the lawyers who brought this suit against Apple earn? Let's make sure we're identifying the true devils in this case. 

[poochyena]

46 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Now... how much did the lawyers who brought this suit against Apple earn? Let's make sure we're identifying the true devils in this case. 

do you mean to say the lawyers are bad? If so, why?

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

1 hour ago, poochyena said:

do you mean to say the lawyers are bad? If so, why?

Merely pointing out while consumers win 15 bucks, those attorneys who picked up this case like a loose ball in the end zone would've made tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. 

 

So for those sarcastically saying how generous of Apple for 15 bucks, just remember where a big chunk of that settlement money went to. 

[poochyena]

43 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Merely pointing out while consumers win 15 bucks, those attorneys who picked up this case like a loose ball in the end zone would've made tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. 

how is that bad, exactly? If not for them, you'd get $0

43 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

just remember where a big chunk of that settlement money went to. 

good lord, did you fail elementary math? How much money do you think consumers would be making if those "evil" lawyers decided to instead work for free in this case? I am dying to know.

[Obioban]

17 hours ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Merely pointing out while consumers win 15 bucks, those attorneys who picked up this case like a loose ball in the end zone would've made tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. 

 

So for those sarcastically saying how generous of Apple for 15 bucks, just remember where a big chunk of that settlement money went to. 

More like millions.

[Dracarris]

On 5/14/2022 at 11:48 PM, darknessblade said:

Apple Reaches Settlement to Pay $15 to Some iPhone 4S Owners Who Experienced Buggy Performance After iOS 9 Update

I'm really glad the world is now a better place. Those people will hopefully be able to deal with their PTSD after this traumatizing event.

On 5/14/2022 at 11:48 PM, darknessblade said:

It was already known for a loong time that apple was Killing off older devices by updates that slow it down, so you are forced to buy a new one.

It has been shown over and over again that this claim is utter horseshit. The technical reasons behind the 6S throttling are well known. Stop spreading false information.

 

With the recent iOS generations quite the opposite is true: They make older phones snappier. In addition to the 5-7years full-generational upgrade and update support, this is another standout from Apple simply unmatched in the Android world.

[mr moose]

On 5/15/2022 at 8:43 AM, Caroline said:

A rollback and being able to use your phone again would've been more useful than $15 but ok

A roll back at the time would have been way more useful than a a pitiful $15 some countless number of years later.   Just like every other fucked up greedy company they are all care and no responsibility.

[JEHICULAR]

I had to downgrade a ipad Mini 2nd gen from ios 12 to ios 10.3.3 in order to get any meaningful performance out of it. Fines like these are just business to them.

[DANK_AS_gay]

On 5/14/2022 at 5:48 PM, darknessblade said:

It was already known for a loong time that apple was Killing off older devices by updates that slow it down, so you are forced to buy a new one.

Incorrect. The older iPhones throttled when the battery was at reduce capacity (due to age and use) in order to extend battery life. Those phones, when the battery was replaced, would go right back to normal. There is nothing wrong with this, it literally makes the phone last longer. Apple was sued and had to payout for helping the environment, and helping the customer. The reason why? "They didn't tell us". 

"Geekbench developer John Poole has mapped out performance for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 over time, and has come to the conclusion that Apple’s iOS 10.2.1 and 11.2.0 updates introduce this throttling for different devices. iOS 10.2.1 is particularly relevant, as this update was designed to reduce random shutdown issues for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S. Apple’s fix appears to be throttling the CPU to prevent the phone from randomly shutting down. Geekbench reports that iOS 11.2.0 introduces similar throttling for iPhone 7 units with older batteries.

Some Reddit users report that replacing their batteries has returned performance and CPU clock speeds back to normal. "

 

This is no different to cars going into "limp-home mode" to try to prevent damage. 

 

"limp mode is a security feature in cars which activates when the engine or transmission control unit picks up a fault. Once it detects a problem, limp mode will cause the less important parts of the car, such as air conditioning, to switch off, and the speed of the car will be reduced. This is to ensure the fault doesn’t cause anything serious to happen and helps the car to ‘limp home’." 

 

"The limp mode feature is designed to let you know that there are issues occurring with the mechanisms of your car, which could be detrimental and will need to be fixed immediately. "

 

But when Apple does it, Apple bad. Sure. One of the only times in the past 10 years that Apple has tried to make their devices last longer, and they get sued. 

[Vishera]

On 5/15/2022 at 10:51 PM, poochyena said:

how is that bad, exactly? If not for them, you'd get $0

good lord, did you fail elementary math? How much money do you think consumers would be making if those "evil" lawyers decided to instead work for free in this case? I am dying to know.

Nobody said that they should work for free,but criticized the amount they take to their pockets.

They usually take around 30% which is pretty much exploitation,while 15% is a reasonable amount.

Though you will still get peanuts instead of real compensation.

[poochyena]

2 minutes ago, Vishera said:

Though you will still get peanuts instead of real compensation.

thats the point

[WhitetailAni]

On 5/14/2022 at 5:43 PM, Caroline said:

A rollback and being able to use your phone again would've been more useful than $15 but ok

You can already downgrade an iPhone 4S to iOS 6 or iOS 8.

https://github.com/LukeZGD/iOS-OTA-Downgrader

 

EDIT:
I wish I lived in New York or New Jersey. I'd make $45 from this as I own 3 iPhone 4S's.

[NumLock21]

Is $15 the maximum by law or is this some running joke/meme that began with Intel's class action lawsuit with their Pentium 4s, where everyone who joined thought about having a big payout, but only got $15 bucks.

[mr moose]

14 hours ago, FakeKGB said:

You can already downgrade an iPhone 4S to iOS 6 or iOS 8.

https://github.com/LukeZGD/iOS-OTA-Downgrader

 

EDIT:
I wish I lived in New York or New Jersey. I'd make $45 from this as I own 3 iPhone 4S's.

You couldn't do it officially through apple channels.   If you have to go to github and find a work around then the company has not done right by their customers.  NO consumer should have to find a work around for a product fault that the manufacturer can easily fix.

 

13 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

Is $15 the maximum by law or is this some running joke/meme that began with Intel's class action lawsuit with their Pentium 4s, where everyone who joined thought about having a big payout, but only got $15 bucks.

 

I would say it is reflective of the justice system, that being a running joke at the expense of consumers all the time.  However the $15 is probably just the mathematical leftovers of either the maximum that a company can be fined or the average amount a consumer spends for perceived performance.