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Apple Starts Paying Settlement Over Deliberate Slowdown of iPhones. BBC reports that Apple has started making payments connected with a long-running class action lawsuit over claims it deliberately slowed down iPhones in the United States. The $500 million settlement comes out to about $92 for each claim. In 2020, Apple agreed to settle the lawsuit, while denying any wrongdoing, citing concerns over the cost of ongoing litigation. The case reportedly dates back to 2017 when Apple confirmed that it had deliberately slowed down some older generations of iPhones. According to Apple, the "slowdown" was meant to lengthen the phones' lifespan as the devices' batteries aged and their performance decreased. BBC reports that Apple was accused of throttling the performance of certain devices without first informing the company's customers. The resulting uproar forced Apple to offer a cut-price battery replacement campaign in order to address the problem. Previously, Apple called the lawsuit "baseless," claiming, , "we have never - and would never - do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.". Last November, Apple lost a bid to have a similar lawsuit in the U.K. blocked. The U.K. case reportedly involves an estimated 24 million iPhone users. THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT