Apple has agreed to pay $250 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by users of the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 16 lineup over the delayed rollout of an upgraded AI version of Siri. The dispute focuses on the fact that the new iPhones were sold with a "built for Apple Intelligence" label, while the more personalized Siri experience promoted by Apple did not arrive on schedule.
Who can file a claim
The settlement sets two main requirements.
Claimants must live in the United States, and they must have bought an eligible iPhone in the U.S. between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025. Eligible devices include the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and every model in the iPhone 16 family: iPhone 16, iPhone 16e, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The purchase must not have been made for resale, and only the original buyer qualifies. Second-hand buyers are excluded.
Eligibility is based on where a person actually lives, not on citizenship. A non-U.S. citizen living in the U.S. on a visa can qualify. A U.S. citizen living abroad who bought the phone abroad does not.
The start date matches Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote, when the company first laid out its vision for a more personalized Siri.
Claims opened on Sept. 21
The claims process opened on Sept. 21, 2026 and will close on Dec. 21, 2026.
Users need to go to the settlement website and submit their name, contact information, and iPhone serial number. The final payment will be adjusted based on the number of valid claims. The fewer the claims, the higher the per-device payment, up to a cap of $95. The starting amount is $25 per iPhone.
The lawsuit centered on Apple’s marketing language
According to the report, the class action argued that Apple created "clear and reasonable consumer expectations" at WWDC 2024, leading buyers to believe the new AI features would launch alongside the iPhone 16.
In practice, the iPhone 16 shipped with the "built for Apple Intelligence" label, but several headline features were missing. Those included the personalized Siri experience and the ability to carry out actions across apps.
In March 2025, Apple announced that the release would be delayed, which triggered the lawsuit.
Siri AI arrived with iOS 27, in English first
The AI version of Siri finally launched this month with iOS 27, 27 months after its first preview at WWDC 2024. The first release supports English only.
The report also said Apple did not fill the gap with its own model. Instead, it reached a deal with Google and pays about $1 billion a year for Gemini to power the new Siri.
Settlement amount equals about 0.06% of annual revenue
Using the figures in the report, the $250 million settlement is equal to about 0.06% of Apple’s $416.2 billion in revenue for fiscal 2025. The article added that the amount is roughly equivalent to a little more than five hours of Apple’s revenue.
Set against a projected fiscal 2025 net profit of $112 billion, the settlement itself is relatively small. The case, however, turned on the gap between Apple’s marketing of Siri AI and the actual timing of the feature rollout.