AG Wilson announces $113 million settlement with Apple over iPhone throttling

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– On Wednesday, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that he and a group of over 30 attorneys general reached a $113 million settlement with Apple over throttling the speed of iPhones to address unexpected phone shutdowns in 2016. The coalition is led by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill.

The attorneys general allege that, in 2016, Apple discovered that battery issues led to unexpected shutdowns and they hid the issues from consumers, eventually creating a software update that slowed down the speed of iPhones to keep them from shutting down. The group alleges that Apple’s actions led to them profiting from customers who bought new iPhones to replace those with slowing performance.

“This scheme hit iPhone customers with phones that worked slowly or shut down unexpectedly and caused a lot of people to shell out money for new phones when they should not have needed to,” Attorney General Wilson said. “Having your phone shut down in the middle of a call is like having no phone at all. Apple is a huge and respected company but its conduct in this case was unacceptable.”

Officials say that under this settlement, South Carolina will receive $1,815,511.36 from Apple who is also now required to provide customers with accurate information about battery health, performance and power management. If approved by the court, payout recipients will be notified.

According to officials, approximately 1,378,000 iPhones were affected in South Carolina.