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Apple has agreed to pay $250 million to settle a major class-action lawsuit in the US, following allegations it misled consumers over the AI capabilities of its latest iPhones.
The settlement, filed on Tuesday in a California federal court, addresses claims that Apple engaged in false advertising by touting a revolutionary, AI-powered version of its Siri voice assistant that wasn’t actually available to users.
The legal challenge centred on Apple’s 2024 marketing campaign for “Apple Intelligence,” which promised to transform Siri from a basic voice interface into a sophisticated personal AI assistant.
Plaintiffs accused the company of “falsely touting” these capabilities to boost sales of the iPhone 16, as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models.
According to the complaint, Apple promoted breakthrough innovations that “did not exist at the time, do not exist now, and will not exist for two or more years”. The lawsuit further alleged that Apple launched this deceptive campaign specifically to regain ground in the competitive AI race against rivals including OpenAI and Anthropic.
While the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing, it offers financial restitution to roughly 36 million eligible device owners in the US. This includes consumers who purchased an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 model between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025.
Each class member is expected to receive a minimum of $25 per device, though that sum could climb as high as $95 depending on the final number of approved claimants.
The US advertising watchdog, the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division, supported the plaintiffs’ narrative, concluding that Apple’s marketing falsely suggested the new Siri was “available now”.
In reality, the iPhone 16 was delivered without the promised AI features, and the “Enhanced Siri” has still not been fully released nearly two years after its initial announcement.
Apple maintains that the dispute focused on the availability of only a few specific features within a larger rollout. A company spokesperson stated that the matter was resolved so Apple could “stay focused on what we do best: delivering the most innovative products and services to our users”.
The settlement now awaits final approval from a federal judge at a hearing scheduled for June 17.
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