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Topic: Hardware

iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

Summary: Get $15 or a free case

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

If you bought an iPhone 4 (and you live in the US) then I've got some good news for you. You're entitled to $15 or a free bumper case for your handset.

According to CNET, 18 separate lawsuits that were consolidated into one relating to the 'Antennagate' handset signal performance issue have now been settled.

You remember 'Antennagate,' right? Soon after the iPhone 4 as released, some users began complaining that holding the handset in a certain way caused antenna performance to drop dramatically, to the point of losing reception completely. Apple issued an open letter to iPhone 4 owners and followed that up with a press conference where the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs made the claim that this was not an iPhone issue but in fact an industry-wide problem. Apple also made a selection of free cases available to consumers.

But that didn't prevent the lawsuits.

Each lawsuit claimed that Apple was "misrepresenting and concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4 - particularly as it relates to the quality of the mobile phone antenna and reception and related software."

In the next few weeks the iPhone4Settlement.com website will go live, and that will provide iPhone 4 customers with information related to the settlement, as well as information on how to make a claim. Customers who bought an iPhone 4 will also receive an email informing them of the settlement before April 30, 2012. From that period, the claim period will be 120 days.

Will you be claiming? Do you even still have that iPhone 4, or have you upgraded to a 4S? Did you ever experience an antenna issue?

Topics: Hardware, iPhone, Legal, Mobility, Smartphones

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17 comments
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  • More than fifteen bucks

    How much did the lawyers get?
    Robert Hahn
    Reply Vote

    • They certainly cost Apple more than $15/claimant.

      @Robert Hahn When you lose a class action suit you pay [b]both[/b] sides' legal fees. But it's still chump change for Apple.
      matthew_maurice
      Reply Vote

  • Isn't this old news??

    I got a free case about three months after I got my iPhone 4.
    SamWilkinson
    Reply Vote

    • This judgement says you get $15 OR a case.

      @SamWilkinson So, you'll get a letter from some law firm telling you how to make a claim, and if you do in a year or so you'll get a check for $15. Of course you'll have forgotten about this by then, so you'll have to Google the law firm to figure out why. In the meantime you'll get letters from them on a regular basis asking you if you've purchased a particular product in the past XX months. The $15 or whatever you get in a Class Action lawsuit usually isn't the lawyer spam you get afterwards.
      matthew_maurice
      Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

    So the only people who come out with a good result in this case are the lawyers.
    doh123
    Reply Vote

    • That's the way most legal action works.

      @doh123 There's a great Billy Bragg lyric [i]"This isn't a Court of Justice, son. This is a Court of Law."[/i] That pretty much sums it up.
      matthew_maurice
      Reply Vote

      • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

        @matthew_maurice Billy Bragg, eh? Aren't you thinking of Billy Budd, or did Bragg write Benjamin Britten's libretti?!
        anionic
        Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

    Should have been a free upgrade to 4S or full refund. It will be interesting to see how many Apple loyalists actually collect the $15.
    lippidp
    Reply Vote

    • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

      @lippidp

      Apple offered a full refund at the time of the brouhaha.
      msalzberg
      Reply Vote

      • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

        @msalzberg -

        They did?

        Steve Jobs told people they were holding it wrong...

        http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-15/apple-engineer-said-to-have-told-jobs-last-year-about-iphone-antenna-flaw.html

        Given how early on Jobs was told, his actions and antics after its release are very much NOT the sort of actions that a dignified representative of America that politicians would otherwise hype up.

        No more lack-of-ethics by these large corporate entities.
        HypnoToad72
        Reply Vote

    • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

      @lippidp Considering I never had an issue with my iPhone 4 I refuse to collect the money.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

      • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

        @Pete "athynz" Athens -

        So your experiences reflect EVERYONE who owns the phone, or a sufficient majority?

        "No", you say?

        'nuff said.

        Glad you didn't collect the money - that's a sign of ethics on your part.
        HypnoToad72
        Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

    So basically, you still got the short end of the stick (first time around it was Apple and now the lawyers).
    Droid.Incredible
    Reply Vote

    • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

      http://wednice.ru
      http://wednice.ru/
      Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

    My wife and daughter each have an iPhone 4. They never mentioned any problems, but I'll take the $30 and go have dinner on Apple.
    brentgee
    Reply Vote

    • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

      @brentgee - no doubt.
      HypnoToad72
      Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 4 'Antennagate' lawsuit settled

    Did the very great Steve Jobs tell us that consumers simply did not know the right way to hold the iPhone4 in their hands? How dare the judge disagree to the "infinite" wisdom of Steve Jobs? That is an insult which we should all go thermal nuclear war against. Steve should push Apple to use the more than U$90 billion war-chest to appeal the case at the US Supreme Court. I am sure that the lobbists in Washington are happy to help, assuming that the pay and reward are both handsome. If helping hands are need, please count me in!!
    WW_Thinker
    Reply Vote
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