Millions of iPhone owners could soon receive compensation after Apple agreed to settle claims that it promoted advanced Siri artificial intelligence features that never got to consumers.
The proposed $250 million class-action settlement centers on Apple’s intelligence capabilities showcased during the company’s June 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference and heavily marketed alongside the iPhone 16 launch later that year.
Apple advertisements promised a dramatically smarter Siri capable of understanding personal context, interacting across apps, and handling more advanced requests through conversational AI. But nearly two years later, many of those headline features still have not been released to the public.
Consumers purchased eligible iPhones expecting functionality that was unavailable at launch and remains missing, a gap that has raised broader questions about AI marketing across the technology industry according to the court filing.
Apple settles with $250 million over claims of false advertising of Siri AI features
The settlement stems from a class-action lawsuit, Landsheft v. Apple Inc., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by plaintiff Peter Landsheft, who alleged that Apple ran a deceptive marketing campaign around its Apple Intelligence suite of features.
The lawsuit, filed in March 2025, claimed that Apple promoted a dramatically upgraded version of Siri at its WWDC event on June 10, 2024, then featured those capabilities in television, internet, and retail advertisements when the iPhone 16 launched on September 20, 2024, TechCrunch reported.
Clarkson Law Firm, the public-interest law firm that originally brought the case on behalf of the plaintiffs, said the plaintiffs alleged that Apple had promoted capabilities that did not function at launch and still have not been delivered to users.
“We are proud to secure a historic settlement on behalf of consumers who should feel confident and protected when deciding where to spend their hard-earned dollars. We are at an inflection point with AI, and the choices companies and regulators make now will shape how this technology impacts everyday people,” said Ryan Clarkson, Founder and Managing Partner, Clarkson Law Firm.
The complaint specifically targeted two promised Siri enhancements: personal context awareness, which would allow Siri to read and reference a user’s emails and messages, and in-app controls, which would let the assistant take actions across third-party applications, Fortune reported.
Apple agreed to settle the case in December 2025, but the full terms were not made public until the plaintiffs filed for preliminary approval on May 5, 2026. The preliminary approval hearing is scheduled for June 17, 2026, before Judge Noel Wise at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building in San Jose, California, Clarkson Law Firm confirmed.
How Apple’s AI advertising campaign led to a landmark class-action lawsuit
The roots of this settlement trace back to Apple’s WWDC keynote on June 10, 2024, where the company unveiled Apple Intelligence as its answer to the artificial intelligence arms race among major tech firms.
Apple demonstrated a Siri that could understand context across apps, reference personal information such as emails and calendar events, and carry out complex tasks through natural-language conversation with the user.
Apple continued running advertisements featuring those capabilities for several months before pulling the marketing materials in March 2025, after the company confirmed the enhanced Siri features would be delayed indefinitely.
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The lawsuit framed the gap between the advertising and the product’s actual capabilities as a violation of California’s consumer protection and false advertising statutes. Apple, for its part, is not admitting any wrongdoing as part of the settlement agreement with the plaintiffs in this case.
A company spokesperson told CBS News that Apple resolved the matter so it could remain focused on delivering products and services to its users. Apple said in a statement to Fox Business that it has introduced “dozens” of Apple Intelligence features since 2024, including Visual Intelligence, Live Translation, Writing Tools, Genmoji and Clean Up.
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Which iPhone models qualify for the Apple Siri settlement payout?
The settlement covers approximately 36 million iPhones purchased in the United States between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, according to the court filing.
Eligible devices under the Apple Siri settlement
- iPhone 16, iPhone 16e, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
- iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
- Purchase date must fall between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, in the United States.
- Base payout of $25 per device, with a maximum of $95 per device depending on total claim volume.
Consumers who want to file a claim will need to provide proof of purchase, the serial number of their eligible device, their phone number, and their Apple Account information, according to the Washington Times. Apple will begin sending email invitations to eligible buyers within 45 days of preliminary approval, which means notices could start arriving as early as mid-June 2026.
What the Apple settlement means for you and the broader tech industry
The Apple Siri settlement reflects growing scrutiny over how technology companies market artificial intelligence products before those tools are fully available to consumers.
While Apple maintains that it has released numerous Apple Intelligence features since 2024 and denies wrongdoing under the agreement, the lawsuit focused specifically on the gap between the company’s advertising and the Siri capabilities buyers expected when purchasing certain iPhone models.
The case also highlights how aggressively AI has reshaped competition among major tech firms, pushing companies to announce ambitious features earlier in development cycles.
For affected iPhone owners, the settlement represents one of the largest consumer cases tied directly to generative AI marketing claims and may influence how future artificial intelligence products are promoted, demonstrated, and disclosed to the public.
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