The announcement comes before Apple prepares to finally unveil some form of AI-enhanced Siri at its developer conference in June, which will mark another shift in detailing a radically improved digital assistant for the iPhone.
The legal complaint says Apple allegedly saturated the market with deceptive ads, prompting consumers to buy iPhones based on the “promise of some improved Siri features” that Apple first announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in 2024, just months before the iPhone 16 was released.
The proposed settlement, which was filed on Tuesday in federal court in California, is one of the largest ever reached by Apple. It only covers US customers who purchased any iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 model between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025. Depending on the claim, those eligible could receive up to $95 per device.
Court documents state the $250 million combined fund will provide successful claimants with “a default per-device payment of $25 per eligible device, which may decrease or increase up to $95 per device depending on the claim… The settlement also reflects that Apple expects to offer additional Siri Apple Intelligence features in future software updates at no additional cost.”
The documents go on to note that Apple’s ads also caught the attention of the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division, which found that Apple’s “claim that Apple Intelligence is now available ‘suggested that an updated Siri was available at launch, when it was not.'” In March 2025, Apple told consumers that enhanced Siri features would not be delivered until a later date.
The settlement, which is awaiting judge approval, does not include any admission of wrongdoing on the part of the company. Apple spokesperson Marnie Goldberg made a statement to the New York Times claiming that with the “launch of Apple Intelligence,” Apple introduced “dozens of features across the many languages built across Apple’s platforms,” but that the company “resolved this issue to remain focused on doing what we do best, delivering the most innovative products and services to our users.”
Apple admitted last year that its AI upgrades to Siri were behind schedule. In a statement to Daring Fireball in March 2025, Apple spokeswoman Jacqueline Roy said the company was “working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take actions on your behalf within and across your apps” but stressed that it would take the company “longer than we thought to deliver these features, and we expect them to roll out next year.”
The next day, Apple reportedly pulled an ad starring Bella Ramsay that showed the actor using a version of Siri capable of answering the query “What’s the name of the guy I met two months ago at the Grinnell Café?”
This is the second time in as many years that Apple’s voice assistant has cost the company dearly. In May last year, Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over allegations that Siri eavesdropped on private conversations.
