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Apple can’t escape claims that its iPhone XR phones are plagued with connectivity issues, according to a recent court order.
U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick partially granted and partially denied Apple’s motion for dismissal against 68 plaintiffs in an iPhone XR class action lawsuit. The judge found the plaintiffs had successfully argued their claims for misrepresentations but found their allegations surrounding warranties were “more problematic.”
Judge Orrick first tackled the plaintiffs’ claims that Apple had concealed the fact that its iPhone XR models contained an inferior antenna that resulted in subpar connection speeds. Apple challenged these claims by arguing the plaintiffs failed to properly allege they relied upon misrepresentations from the company.
Despite these arguments, Judge Orrick found the plaintiffs had sufficiently argued their claims under misrepresentations laws. The court made a similar decision regarding the plaintiffs’ omission claims.
However, the judge did rule the plaintiffs failed to properly allege that they relied on partial representations — causing him to dismiss these claims. The judge also found the 68 plaintiffs failed to show they have standing to seek injunctive relief or equitable restitution under California laws.
Although Judge Orrick pointed out these deficiencies in his dismissal motion, he notes these problems could be curable through an amended complaint. As such, he has given the plaintiffs leave to amend their allegations.
Moving on from these claims, Judge Orrick noted the plaintiffs’ warranty claims were tricky.
The court agreed with Apple on these allegations, finding the plaintiffs failed to adequately allege their claims. The claims from the plaintiffs reportedly failed to show how Apple violated an express warranty. Judge Orrick also noted the warranty at issue doesn’t entitle the plaintiffs to relief from design choices or defects — undermining the warranty breach claims.
Judge Orrick also dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims of violations of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, calling these claims an “impermissible attempt to use the express warranty to pursue a design defect-based claim.”
However, there is still hope the plaintiffs could amend these claims and be successful in their second attempt.
“Because I cannot say that amendment would be futile, dismissal of these claims is also with leave to amend,” Judge Orrick wrote in his dismissal.
The numerous plaintiffs filed their iPhone XR class action lawsuit in April, contending the smartphones were purposefully equipped with an inferior antenna.
Unlike the 4×4 MIMO antenna array used in the predecessor iPhone XS and XS Max, Apple allegedly used a 2×2 MIMO antenna array in the newer XR model.
As a result, the plaintiffs and other Apple users reportedly experienced poor signal connectivity and 4G speeds, which were only half of what the older models reached.
One plaintiff says her connectivity issues have made it difficult for her to make calls.
During phone calls, the plaintiff was allegedly unable to hear the other caller or they were unable to hear her. In some cases, she says she was unable to send text messages or access cellular data due to the connectivity problems.
The plaintiffs allege Apple should be aware of the connectivity issue based on reports from consumers. However, the company has reportedly failed to take action to fix the issue and instead replaces phones for consumers who complaint, “leaving consumers caught in a cycle of use, malfunction, and replacement.”
“Despite several reports that Apple would attempt to resolve the iPhone XR connectivity issues by switching the phone to a 4×4 MIMO antenna array for its fall 2019 product release, there is no evidence that it has done that, and even recent purchasers report the same connectivity issues as day-one purchasers,” the Apple iPhone XR class action lawsuit notes.
According to the plaintiffs, they would not have purchased the iPhone XR models or would have paid significantly less for them if they had known the phones were equipped with an inferior 2×2 MIMO antenna array. The consumers note competitor phones in the same price range are equipped with the higher-quality 4×4 antenna array.
The plaintiffs seek to represent a Class of consumers who experienced iPhone XR connectivity issues, presented their phones to Apple for repair and either did not have the issue fixed or had their phones replaced with the same model.
Did you experience problems with your iPhone XR connection speeds? Share your experiences in the comment section below.
The plaintiffs and the proposed Class are represented by Shana E. Scarlett, Ben Harrington, Steve W. Berman and Thomas E. Loeser of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.
The iPhone XR Class Action Lawsuit is Elaine Anderson, et al. v. Apple Inc., Case No. 5:20-cv-02328, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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524 thoughts onApple Can’t Escape iPhone XR Class Action Lawsuit
My experience as of late has a strange glitch where ill get a call that i pick up on my headphones (2 different types used had experienced the same thing) where the call would pick up but then it will give me the scariest buzzes and hums and it almost plays some demonic code or something but it’s unpleasant and always random the only way to stop it once it starts is to turn the headphones off and reconnect them but also ive had the occasional homescreen crash where the app im in resets and it puts me on my homescreen i have also been screwed by the internet connection because anywhere my mom lives the internet gives out