A California court held a hearing this week on preliminary approval of Apple’s $250 million settlement in a class action lawsuit over Siri AI’s delayed launch, but the judge has not yet issued a ruling. Once preliminary approval is granted, eligible iPhone owners can begin claiming their share, though payouts remain months away at minimum.
In June 2024, Apple previewed new Siri features powered by Apple Intelligence, including personal context awareness and on-screen intelligence. Apple promoted these features aggressively through ads and marketing when the iPhone 16 launched in September 2024. But in March 2025, Apple delayed the Siri Apple Intelligence features indefinitely and pulled its ads. The suit claimed Apple violated consumer protection law by misleading customers into buying devices with features that “did not exist or were materially misrepresented.”
Apple reached a settlement agreement in December 2025 without admitting wrongdoing (companies often settle to avoid legal costs rather than admit liability). The $250 million payout is now pending court approval.
Who Qualifies and How Much They Get
To be eligible, you must have purchased an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 model between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025 and reside in the U.S. Each eligible claim receives a base payment of $25 per device, which can increase up to $95 if the total number of claims submitted falls below expectations.
Once preliminary approval is granted, eligible class members will be notified by email within approximately 45 days. The settlement website is not yet live, so users cannot submit claims yet. Payouts are unlikely to begin until late 2026 or early 2027, assuming the judge approves the settlement.
Siri AI Arrives as Settlement Hearing Concludes
Apple announced the overhauled “Siri AI” at WWDC 2026 last month, nearly two years after the original promise and just weeks before this settlement hearing. The revamped assistant is already available for testing on the iOS 27 developer beta, with public beta access to follow this month. iOS 27 is scheduled to release in September 2026, at which point Siri AI will finally be available to all iPhone 15 Pro and newer users.
The feature set includes a dedicated Siri app with memory capabilities for conversations (stored for a limited duration) and competitive positioning against ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Users are about to get what they were promised in 2024, but only after Apple agreed to pay $250 million for not delivering it on time.
