Apple is facing a lawsuit alleging that the company falsely advertised the storage capacity available on its devices. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in California, claims that iOS 8 can suck up as much as 23.1% of the advertised storage capacity, something consumers are not aware of when they purchase the device or download the iOS. The case is a class action lawsuit on behalf of all people who purchased an iPhone, iPad, or iPod with 16 GB of memory or less and who received iOS pre-installed or who upgraded from an earlier iOS. The suit seeks damages of more than $5 million.
The plaintiffs are particularly unhappy about Apple’s proposed solution to the shrinking amount of storage. When a device’s storage becomes nearly full, Apple delivers advertisements for its paid iCloud online storage. “Using these sharp business tactics, [the] defendant gives less storage capacity than advertised, only to offer to sell that capacity in a desperate moment, e.g., when a consumer is trying to record or take photos at a child or grandchild’s recital, basketball game or wedding,” said the lawyer for the plantiff, William Anderson, of Cuneo Gilbert & Laduca.
Apple’s new operating system has been plagued with an unusually high number of problems. Users have complained of everything from shortened battery life and sluggish performance to dropped WiFi, issues with Safari, issues with audio, problems with iMessages, problems syncing with iTunes, and mysteriously disappearing ringtone purchases. The lawsuit noted that Apple does not allow people who have upgraded to iOS 8 to revert back to earlier operating systems—a common complaint by users beset by iOS 8 bugs..
