Apple has agreed to pay $250 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the tech giant of misleading iPhone buyers about its AI features. The settlement was filed on Tuesday in a California federal court. The lawsuit focused on Apple’s promotion of its AI features, called Apple Intelligence. It included improvements to Siri and other smart features. However, customers claimed that these capabilities were either not available at launch or exist now.
As part of the settlement, Apple has not admitted any wrongdoing. Still, it has agreed to compensate eligible users to close the case. People who bought an iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 between June 2024 and March 2025 may receive payments ranging from $25 to $95, reports BBC.
An Apple spokeswoman clarified that the case mainly focused on limited parts of the overall AI rollout. She said that the lawsuit was focused on ‘the availability of two additional features’ in a lineup of many released as part of its Apple Intelligence rollout, as per the report.
She also added, ‘We resolved this matter to stay focused on doing what we do best, delivering the most innovative products and services to our users.’
Lawyers representing the iPhone buyers argued that Apple’s marketing created unrealistic expectations. In a revised complaint, they said, ‘Apple promoted AI capabilities that did not exist at the time, do not exist now, and will not exist for two or more years, if ever, all while marketing them as the breakthrough innovation.’
They also claimed Apple pushed these AI features aggressively to compete with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, which have been leading the AI space.
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Another key issue raised in the lawsuit was the promise of an improved Siri experience. According to the complaint, Apple marketed Siri as evolving into a much smarter assistant, but the final product did not match those claims. Lawyers wrote, ‘The iPhone 16 was delivered to consumers without Apple Intelligence, and Enhanced Siri never came.’
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