US tech giant Apple has agreed to pay $113 million to settle a suit with over 30 US states over performance slowdown in older iPhones to manage battery, AFP reported. The latest “batterygate” settlement will divide the settlement among California and 33 other states, according to a statement by state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

The settlement is over complaints that Apple made misrepresentations about iPhone batteries and software updates that throttled processing performance to manage insufficient battery power, AFP quoted a California state official. 

“Apple withheld information about their batteries that slowed down iPhone performance, all while passing it off as an update,” Becerra said in a tweet.

“This hurt Californians and made it more difficult for consumers to make informed choices,” he added.

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The settlement resolves complaints about Apple’s iPhone 6 and 7 generation phones which according to the states’ complaint were susceptible to performance loss.

Although Apple hasn’t issued a statement on the issue, in the court documents, the iPhone maker said it agreed to the payout “solely for the purposes of settlement,” without any admission of wrongdoing.

Earlier this year Apple agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over the same issue.

In December 2017, Apple admitted that iOS software was tweaked to slow the performance of older iPhones whose battery life was deteriorating to prevent handsets from spontaneously shutting down.

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Critics accused Apple of surreptitiously forcing users to buy phones sooner than necessary, and the outcry forced Apple to upgrade its software and offer steep discounts on battery replacements.

Apple also settled a case with France’s consumer watchdog to pay 25 million euros ($27.4 million) in a related case.