Apple on Tuesday agreed to pay $250 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accused the company of misleading millions of iPhone buyers by falsely promoting artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for its Siri voice assistant in late 2024, News.Az reports, citing Gulf News.

The plaintiffs alleged that the California-based tech giant had “promoted AI capabilities that did not exist at the time, do not exist now, and will not exist for two or more years,” with the intention of boosting iPhone sales, according to the document reviewed by AFP.

The Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division, the US advertising watchdog, also found that Apple had falsely implied that the new AI-powered Siri was “available now.”

The settlement, filed on Tuesday for court approval and containing no admission of wrongdoing by Apple, covers approximately 36 million eligible devices — including the iPhone 16, as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max — purchased in the United States between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025.

Under the terms of the agreement, each class member could receive $25 per device, with payouts potentially rising to as much as $95 depending on the number of approved claimants.

“We resolved this matter to stay focused on what we do best: delivering the most innovative products and services to our users,” Apple told the Financial Times.

A Morgan Stanley survey cited in the complaint found that “enhanced Siri” was the feature most anticipated by potential iPhone buyers.

Apple had launched a major advertising campaign in 2024 promoting these capabilities, before later confirming their indefinite delay and withdrawing the advertisements.

The settlement still requires approval from Judge Noel Wise of the federal district court for the Northern District of California, with a hearing scheduled for June 17, 2026.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev