Apple on the hook for another US$113 million with second iPhone battery degradation and throttling settlement

It has been a few months since Apple stated that would to pay US$310-US$500 million to people with iPhones affected by 'Batterygate', as we reported in July. The window to submit claims for affected iPhone SE, iPhone 6 or iPhone 7 series handsets shut in October, but Apple has now agreed to pay up to another US$113 million in a separate case.

Apple continues to insist that its first settlement is not an admission of any wrongdoing, mind you. Similarly, this second settlement allows Apple to do away with lengthy court proceedings, without needing to admit that it behaved inappropriately.

The second settlement will cover 34 US states, including the District of Columbia. This time, Arizona state attorneys sued Apple not only for designing batteries that had degraded, but for throttling many iPhones without seeking consent from owners. In turn, the attorneys claimed that Apple behaved this way with the understanding that it could profit from people who thought they needed to upgrade to a new iPhone because their existing one was running slowly or shutting down unexpectedly.

Unsurprisingly, Apple denied that this was the case. A judge is yet to approve the new settlement of up to US$113 million, so it may be a while before Apple compensates anyone.