Apple to settle repair class-action lawsuit at cost of $95M

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What you need to know

  • Apple is trying to settle a lawsuit over refurbished devices.
  • It has offered to pay $95M over its policy of using refurbished or remanufactured parts in refurbished devices.
  • The settlement is pending court approval.

Apple has reportedly offered to settle a class-action lawsuit over refurbished products at a cost of $95M.

As reported by Law360:

A class of smartphone and tablet buyers is asking a California federal court to give the go-ahead to a $95 million settlement to resolve claims that Apple Inc. failed to honor its warranties by replacing broken iPhone and iPad devices with "remanufactured" units that were not as good as new ones. In a motion for preliminary approval, Vicky Maldonado and Justin Carter said the deal represents between 13% and 25% of the total damages their experts calculated their class claims were worth, but that it's an "outstanding" result as they risked no recovery at all by continuing the case to trial.

The class-action suit covers Apple customers who "purchased AppleCare Protection Plan or AppleCare+ for an iPhone or iPad, either directly or through the iPhone Upgrade Program, on or after July 20, 2012, and received a remanufactured replacement iPhone or iPad."

As the settlement site notes, Apple's terms and conditions state that AppleCare and AppleCare+ customers can receive repairs or a replacement device that is "either "new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability."

Specifically, remanufactured devices are alleged to not be "equivalent to new in performance and reliability."

Apple has offered $95M to settle the suit, and the class affected is reportedly asking the court to accept the offer.

Apple offers AppleCare and AppleCare+ on a multitude of devices including its best iPhones such as the iPhone 13, and iPhone 12.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design. Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9