You will have seen the number $95 attached to this story. Set it aside.
A federal judge has granted preliminary approval to Apple’s $250 million settlement over the Siri AI it advertised and then failed to ship. Owners of certain iPhones are in line for a payment. The realistic figure is $25, there is nothing to claim yet, and the money will not arrive before late 2027.
Everything you need to know, and the two dates worth writing down.
What is Apple actually accused of?
Selling a feature that did not exist.
The claim is that Apple promoted AI capabilities which, in the words of the case, did not exist at the time and would not exist for years. Anyone who watched the 2024 announcements remembers the pitch: a Siri that understood context, knew what was on your screen and acted across your apps. Anyone who bought a phone on the strength of it then waited, and kept waiting.
Apple eventually pulled the advertising. The rebuilt assistant slipped repeatedly, and even now the rollout is cautious enough that getting the new Siri means joining a waitlist. The gap between the marketing and the product is the whole case, and $250 million is Apple’s price for closing it.
Which iPhones qualify?
Seven models, bought inside a fixed window.
- iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iPhone 16e
The purchase has to fall between 10 June 2024 and 29 March 2025. That start date is not arbitrary: it is when Apple began marketing the AI features in question.
The payment is per device, so a household that bought two qualifying iPhones inside that window has two claims rather than one.
So why will I get $25 and not $95?
Because the pot is fixed and the number of hands in it is not.
$250 million is the total, minus legal fees and administration. Divide what remains by everyone who files a valid claim and you get the individual payment. The $25 figure is the expectation based on anticipated take-up. The $95 ceiling applies only if remarkably few eligible owners bother to claim.
Apple sold a great many iPhone 16s. Millions of devices qualify, and every headline shouting $95 makes $95 less likely, because publicity drives claim rates and claim rates drive the payment down. Plan for $25 and treat anything above it as a surprise.
Can I claim today?
No, and this is the part most coverage skates over.
The claims website does not exist. Verita Global has been appointed to administer the settlement and will set one up. Notices go out to eligible owners within 45 days of the 8 July preliminary approval, which puts the deadline for those at 31 August 2026.
Until that notice lands, there is nothing to fill in and nowhere legitimate to fill it in.
What will I need when the time comes?
Three things: proof you bought an eligible device, such as the serial number, your Apple Account details, and a phone number.
The serial number is the one worth sorting now, particularly if you have since sold or traded the phone in. You do not need the handset in your hand to find it. Sign in at appleid.apple.com and look under your registered devices, where past hardware is usually still listed. The original receipt or order confirmation email will carry it too, and an iPhone bought on a contract will normally appear on the network’s account records.
Anyone who traded a 16 Pro in against a 17 should dig that out before the notice arrives rather than after.
When does the money actually arrive?
Late 2027 at the earliest. The timeline runs like this:
- 8 July 2026: preliminary approval granted.
- By 31 August 2026: notices sent to eligible owners, claims site opens.
- 29 September 2027: final approval hearing.
- Late November 2027 at the soonest: cheques go out, at least 60 days after final approval.
Fourteen months separate the claim window from the hearing, and that assumes nothing slips. Appeals and objections routinely add time to settlements of this size. A phone bought in 2024 may well be two handsets ago by the time the payment clears.
Does any of this apply in the UK?
This is a United States class action in a US federal court, and British buyers should not expect to be covered by it. No equivalent UK action has been reported.
Which stings slightly, because European users waited longer than anyone. Apple’s AI features arrived late in the EU for regulatory reasons, and Tim Cook has been in talks with Brussels with Siri AI in Europe as the prize. The people who waited longest for the feature are the ones with no route to compensation for the wait.
How do I avoid getting scammed?
Settlement announcements attract fraud, and this one has a fourteen-month window in which no official site exists to check against. That is close to ideal conditions for it.
Three rules cover most of it. You never pay a fee to join a class action, so anyone asking for money is stealing. A legitimate claim needs a serial number and contact details, never your card number or your Apple Account password. And any site claiming to process Siri settlement claims before the official notice goes out is fraudulent, because the real one is not live.
When the notice does arrive, check the administrator’s name against the court documents rather than trusting a link in an email.
Is $250 million a real punishment?
Not in any sense Apple will feel. The company clears more than that in profit in a couple of days, and it settled without admitting wrongdoing, which is what settlements are for.
The cost that matters is the other one. Apple built its reputation on shipping features that work rather than announcing features that might, and the Siri episode spent that credit. It is why every subsequent AI promise from the company arrives with an implied “we mean it this time” attached, and why the assistant now rolling out is being handled with such visible caution.
$25 a head is the invoice. The lasting charge is that Apple is now a company whose product announcements need checking.
What to do now
Check whether a qualifying iPhone was bought in your household between 10 June 2024 and 29 March 2025. Find the serial number while it is easy, and put a reminder in your calendar for the end of August, when the notices are due and the claims site should open. Ignore anything that asks you to act before then.
We will update this page when the claims process opens.
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