A lawsuit over Apple's failure to deliver Apple Intelligence and Siri features is moving closer to a conclusion as a judge has provisionally approved the company's settlement offer.
The class action suit filed in 2025 alleged that people had bought new iPhones expressly because of Apple's promoting of Apple Intelligence features that it then did not deliver. Apple admitted in March 2025 that the new Siri features were delayed, but then in May 2025 offered a settlement.
Apple and the parties to the class action suit agreed to a $250 million settlement, but it had to be approved. Now in a filing in the US District Court, Northern District of California, judge Noel Wise has provisionally given approval.
The final approval and so the start of any pay out to buyers, though, is dependent on a final hearing which has now been announced for September 29, 2027. While Judge Wise has given overall approval, he ruled that the court will not decide on any amounts until that hearing.
It may be a quick final hearing, though, as the parties have already agreed to a payment of at least $25 per eligible device. It is possible, however, that this amount could rise per device if the number of claims filed is low.
"[To] ensure fairness to all Class Members," says the filing, "before the parties begin the payment of claims, the parties shall report to the Court if the amount to be disbursed to any Class Member would exceed $95."
Then, too, that final hearing will determine issues such as whether Apple must pay the legal costs of the claimants.
There will be a way for users to formally apply to be part of the claim.
What has been set in more detail by the court is what anyone who wishes to opt out of the settlement must do. They must register through either a postal entry or what the court filing calls the Settlement Website.
Apple's 2024 ad showing a truly impressive use of Apple Intelligence did also feature a disclaimer on-screen - image credit: Apple
The filing includes a schedule that suggests claimants will have 90 days in which to apply to opt out, once the site has gone live and listed the postal address.
Users who are eligible to be part of the class action do not have to do anything as yet. The filing suggests that notifying eligible claimants should begin 45 days after this preliminary approval order.
As MacRumors said when the court approval was revealed, eligibility for the payout means that a claimant must have bought one of specific iPhone models June 10, 2025 and March 29, 2025.
The models included in the settlement are:
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
Buyers must also be resident in the US.
What Apple failed to deliver
Apple Intelligence was delayed and so it was not a feature of the iPhones announced in September 2024. Ultimately, though, Apple did release everything it advertised, with one exception, by iOS 18.2 in December 2024.
The missing feature was the high-profile one featured in Apple's ad starring Bella Ramsey. In it, she asks Siri for the name of someone she met a few months before, and it told her.
It was an example of how Siri was said to be able to privately work with the data on a user's phone. Apple has now delivered at least most of that functionality in the beta versions of what it now calls Siri AI.
