Class-action lawsuit accuses Apple of misrepresenting iPhone storage with iOS 8

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2015
Apple has been accused of misrepresenting its iOS 8 operating system upgrade by using an "unexpectedly large percentage" of storage on 8- and 16-gigabyte devices, resulting in a class-action lawsuit against the iPhone maker.




The complaint was filed in a California court on Tuesday on behalf of plaintiffs Paul Orshan and Christopher Endara. The suit alleges that Apple failed to disclose to consumers that as much as 23.1 percent of the advertised storage capacity of an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch would be consumed by iOS 8 once the upgrade is installed.

The suit alleges that "reasonable consumers" would not expect such a discrepancy after updating their device to the latest operating system. By their calculations, each gigabyte of capacity removed from an "iDevice" equates to as many as 500 high-resolution photographs.

Going one step further, the complaint accuses Apple of using this limited capacity to sell users on iCloud storage upgrades. The suit claims that Apple's "sharp business tactics" can take advantage of consumers in a "desperate moment," such as when they're "trying to record or take photos at a child or grandchild's recital, basketball game or wedding."




The class-action lawsuit states that Orshan owned two iPhone 5s units, as well as two iPads, all with 16 gigabytes of storage that were upgraded to iOS 8. Endara is also said to own a 16-gigabyte iPhone 6 that came with iOS 8 preinstalled.

The plaintiffs allege that Apple is engaged in "false, deceptive and misleading practices" in marketing its iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. They have taken issue with the fact that a 16-gigabyte iPhone, even when purchased new with iOS 8 preinstalled, does not actually have 16 gigabytes of usable storage.

The complaint accuses Apple of violating California's Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The plaintiffs have asked the court to force Apple to "engage in a corrective notice campaign," and that restitution be paid to affected consumers.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 368
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member
    Before you jump in with "Apple makes it very clear that some of the 16GB is used for the OS on their Web site" you might want to check the site. I assumed I would be able to find some clear language that would cover Apple, but the closest thing I could find was this:

    "1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less." on the Technical Specs page.

    Or

    "How much storage is right for you?
    iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus come in three storage sizes: 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB. The term
    "GB" stands for gigabytes. The more gigabytes you have, the more content you can store on your iPhone, such as apps, games, photos, HD videos, music, and movies. For example, if you have a large music or photo library or lots of apps, it%u2019s a good idea to consider an iPhone with a larger storage capacity. If you rarely download apps or you don%u2019t take many photos or videos, an iPhone with a smaller capacity may be better for you. When deciding which size to choose, be sure to consider how your storage needs may change over time."

    And, as you can see, they make no mention of the fact that a few GB of storage is used up regardless of what size you get.

    It looks like Apple dropped the ball on this one, and it may end of costing them.
  • Reply 2 of 368
    This guys are morons!!! (a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment; a person of borderline intelligence in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, having an intelligence quotient of 50 to 69).
    Do they think that a, phone or computer, operating system will not take any space?

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2545258/Samsung-Galaxy-S4-owners-just-HALF-storage-paid-bloatware.html
  • Reply 3 of 368
    I am suing my parents. I found out the tooth fairy isn't real.
  • Reply 4 of 368

    I think this has merit, if only because a 16Gb iPhone is nearly unusable. OK, that's a bit of hyperbole but the way any *reasonable* person would use the phone is to install apps and store photos and music. You really can't do much of that on a 16Gb iPhone running iOS8 before it runs out of space. Apple should not even be selling 16Gb models; they should start at 32Gb. 

  • Reply 5 of 368
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Yawn... the industry has been through this already with hard drives, screen measurements, RAM, etc. I believe Apple was sued before for this with earlier iPhone models and won. Another article on another website pointed out that almost all manufacturers of computer/electronics have been sued for this so-called deception. But since this is Apple, by default, it becomes their issue alone. This is getting funny.

  • Reply 6 of 368
    Some thoughts:

    1) Is this new? Didn't previous versions of iOS also take some of the device's capacity?

    2) I don't know that I've seen anything in Apple's marketing which specifies that all of the device's specified capacity will all be available for user data. In fact, they're referring to the total capacity of the device's internal storage system.

    3) The same can be said of pretty much any computer as well; if you buy a computer with a given size HDD or SSD, some of that space will be used by the computer's OS, whether Mac or Windows.
  • Reply 7 of 368
    Blah blah blah give us money.

    8.1.2 seems to have freed up a lot of the consumed storage anyway.
  • Reply 8 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Robin Huber View Post



    I am suing my parents. I found out the tooth fairy isn't real.

    You didn't pay $300 + $50/month to try to access the tooth fairy. If you had it would have been fraud on the part of the person selling it to you.

  • Reply 9 of 368
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ktappe View Post

     

    I think this has merit, if only because a 16Gb iPhone is nearly unusable. OK, that's a bit of hyperbole but the way any *reasonable* person would use the phone is to install apps and store photos and music. You really can't do much of that on a 16Gb iPhone running iOS8 before it runs out of space. Apple should not even be selling 16Gb models; they should start at 32Gb. 




    Bzzzzzt! Wrong!

  • Reply 10 of 368
    This lawsuit is an example of why dead lawyer jokes have some validity.
  • Reply 11 of 368
    This has nothing to do with iOS 8, and everything to do with how storage has been marketed to customers since at least the 1980s, and I suspect much earlier.

    It's either disingenuous or just plain ignorant for them to suggest that iOS uses over 20% of the capacity when that represented capacity is in BASE-10 and the stated capacity in iOS is in BASE-2… like it's always been. My guess is that it's more ignorance and than dishonesty considering that AI constantly fails to note the difference in their articles.

    malax wrote: »
    Before you jump in with "Apple makes it very clear that some of the 16GB is used for the OS on their Web site" you might want to check the site. I assumed I would be able to find some clear language that would cover Apple, but I couldn't find an appropriate disclaimer anywhere. I expected to see it on the technical specs page, but there is no mention of this.


    They've had this on their Tech Specs from the beginning.

    1000
  • Reply 12 of 368
    I am suing my parents. I found out the tooth fairy isn't real.

    So give the money back.
  • Reply 13 of 368
    ktappe wrote: »
    I think this has merit, if only because a 16Gb iPhone is nearly unusable. OK, that's a bit of hyperbole but the way any *reasonable* person would use the phone is to install apps and store photos and music. You really can't do much of that on a 16Gb iPhone running iOS8 before it runs out of space. Apple should not even be selling 16Gb models; they should start at 32Gb. 

    I have a 16GB iPad and it's fine. I have about two dozen apps, including games, and a good amount of music. Still have about 3GB free. The only time I might want more storage is if I was going to load a lot of movies on it, but the reality of that is I'd rather watch them on my TV.

    I got the 64GB iPhone mainly because it was only $100 upfront.
  • Reply 14 of 368
    malax wrote: »

    It looks like Apple dropped the ball on this one, and it may end of costing them.

    Where is it said that Apple has to tell them the exact percentage of space used by the OS? All smartphones have a portion of storage used by the OS. Can you show me a company that is publishing how much space is available for personal content?

    Additionally the Apple Store, Apple.com and many retailers allow for free returns in a limited time period. If this was really a concern for someone they could have found it out immediately after starting their iPhone/iPad/iPod the first time or asking an employee or looking in the settings of a display model. The two options for the plantiff are that this is a cash grab or they're of subhuman intelligence.
  • Reply 15 of 368
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by adhir View Post



    The same can be said of pretty much any computer as well; if you buy a computer with a given size HDD or SSD, some of that space will be used by the computer's OS, whether Mac or Windows.

     

    But a *much* lower percentage. iOS8 takes up 11Gb or 68% of the storage on a 16Gb device. That puts this in a whole different league.

  • Reply 16 of 368
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by malax View Post



    It looks like Apple dropped the ball on this one, and it may end of costing them.

     

    Bzzzzt! Wrong again. From the article over at siliconbeat.com...

     

    "Apple has fended off such claims before, beating back a Canadian case in 2012 that alleged the company misled consumers about the amount of storage on the iPod. Competitors such as Samsung and Microsoft have also been slapped with claims that they were not upfront about the true storage capacity of their gadgets.

     

    This is not new. It is not Apple only. Apple did not "drop the ball on this one.

     

    Try doing some basic research before making a complete fool of yourself in a public post.

  • Reply 17 of 368
    ktappe wrote: »
    But a *much* lower percentage. iOS8 takes up 11Gb or 68% of the storage on a 16Gb device. That puts this in a whole different league.

    What? Are you daft? iOS does NOT take up 11GB of storage. If it did, how are 8GB devices running it?
  • Reply 18 of 368



    The one profession that ranks up there with car salesman. Why don't they just steal jewlery off a dead person? 

  • Reply 19 of 368
    ktappe wrote: »
    I think this has merit, if only because a 16Gb iPhone is nearly unusable. OK, that's a bit of hyperbole but the way any *reasonable* person would use the phone is to install apps and store photos and music. You really can't do much of that on a 16Gb iPhone running iOS8 before it runs out of space. Apple should not even be selling 16Gb models; they should start at 32Gb. 

    1) It's a capital B because it's bytes, not bits. Clearly this isn't a typo as you did it 4 times. That makes a difference by a factor of 8.

    2) There is no merit unless you think there is merit to sue all such cases of marketing capacity in BASE-10 v how an OS reads capacity in BASE-2. If you think there is a merit in the foundation of that then tell me this case has merit to single out iOS 8 which doesn't nothing different than any other OS?
  • Reply 20 of 368
    Most people should be familiar with the space usage of an OS by this point. Informed people buying the smallest capacity are well aware that it is not enough space for a primary device under typical use. (you see people purchase them for niche uses such as remote controls, payment portals, and value added entertainment functions). I am not sure why Apple should be responsible for others not doing their research before making a purchase as important as a smartphone. ALL phones today have less storage than advertised due to OS requirements.
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