Samsung Galaxy Class Action Says Screens’ Pixel Count Inflated

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A group of consumers have lodged a class action lawsuit alleging Samsung Galaxy smart devices are advertised with an inflated pixel count.

The lead plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit allege that Samsung misleadingly advertised the resolutions of its “Pentile” phones and tablets.

They say that the devices do not have the required pixel counts to provide the high resolution the company advertises for the Samsung Galaxy.

A pixel is a “picture element” and consist of tiny electronic dots that allow the myriad of devices in today’s world to show images on their screens.

Thousands and even millions of pixels can make up a screen and the perceived quality of the picture on the screen is dependent on the number of pixels.

“One of the most important factors in the value and price of a phone or tablet is its screen quality, the most important factor of which is screen resolution,” contends the Samsung Galaxy class action lawsuit.

While Samsung claims that its Galaxy products have high resolution screens, according to the Samsung class action lawsuit, the actual count of “true” pixels is much lower than the numbers advertised.

“The Galaxy A9 Product is advertised as having 1080×2220 pixels, but in fact does not use true pixels with red, green, and blue subpixels in each pixel,” alleges the Samsung Galaxy class action lawsuit as an example.

“Instead, the Product has only false screen pixels, with just two subpixels per false pixel (1080×2220×2 = 4,795,200 subpixels), and it does not actually have any subpixels at all in the display-area corners. In contrast, most competitors’ phones are truthfully advertised as having a given number of pixels because they have the full three subpixels per pixel.”

According to the Samsung Galaxy class action lawsuit, this false advertising puts the company at an advantage to other tech manufacturers that advertise the number of true pixels, rather than false pixels found on the rounded corners of the devices.

“Consumers, including Plaintiffs and members of the Class, relied on Defendant’s marketing campaign depicting the Products as having superior screens than other phones, including the iPhone 8 Plus, which has genuine pixels on its screen, a larger rectangular surface area than the Products, and is sold for less than the price of the Products,” alleges the Samsung Galaxy pixels class action lawsuit.

The Samsung Galaxy class action lawsuit seeks to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who purchased devices with allegedly falsely advertised pixels.

The plaintiffs claim that by misrepresenting device specifications, Samsung has violated consumer protection laws in all 50 states and Washington D.C.

“Plaintiffs and Class Members in all 50 states and the District of Columbia reasonably relied on Defendant’s deceptive marketing campaign to purchase the Products when they would not have purchased them otherwise or would not have purchased them at their inflated purchase prices,” alleges the Samsung Galaxy class action lawsuit.

“Defendants have been unjustly enriched as a result of their unlawful conduct. Through these unfair and deceptive practices, Defendants have collected millions of dollars from the sale of their Products.”

The plaintiffs are seeking damages, as well as a court order requiring Samsung to stop its alleged false advertising of Galaxy device pixel numbers.

The plaintiffs are represented by C.K. Lee and Anne Seelig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC.

The Samsung Galaxy Pixels Class Action Lawsuit is Chu, et al. v. Samsung Electronics of America Inc., et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-11742, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.