Apple has started to make payments to US complainants following a class action lawsuit which accused the tech giant of deliberately slowing down their iPhones.

The case began in December 2017, and accuses Apple of misleading users over upgrades on older iPhone models that would improve their performance, which actually resulted in slowing the phones.

As part of the case, Apple did admit a software update released in January 2017 slowed down performance in older models in order to keep these phones from shutting down completely as their lithium-powered batteries aged.

While this move would keep the phones functional, it does show that Apple did deliberately slow iPhone performance on older models with newer updates, and did not explain this result or their reasoning to customers.

Further, while Apple did admit that the batteries would slow older iPhone models, consumers would have to replace their own iPhone batteries out of pocket, or be forced to purchase a new iPhone

The US lawsuit included the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X models.

Apple did respond at the time by offering a reduced price on battery replacement to fix the problem, though they maintained they did no wrongdoing.

However, Apple did agree to settle the lawsuit as they were concerned with the ongoing cost of the legal process.

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Amounting to a total of $500m (£394m), the complainants will receive about $92 each, which is more than a $79 (£59) iPhone battery replacement.

A similar case is currently underway in the UK, which may take its lead from the US ruling. However, the UK lawsuit has widened its iPhone range to the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X.

Started by Mr Justin Gutmann, the UK lawsuit alleges that Apple slowed down iPhone performance by up to 58%, while Apple claims their 2017 update would only lead to a potential 10% performance slow down.