Apple Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over iOS 8 Storage Space

On Dec. 30, an iOS 8 storage class action lawsuit was filed against Apple Inc. by two Florida residents who allege the company falsely advertised the amount of storage available on its iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices.

Plaintiffs Parl Orshan and Christopher Endara of Miami have filed this iOS 8 storage class action lawsuit in federal court, claiming Apple “fail[ed] to disclose to consumers that as much as 23.1% of the advertised storage capacity of the Devices will be consumed by iOS 8 and unavailable for consumers when consumers purchase Devices that have iOS 8 installed.” Orshan and Endara also allege Apple does not nothing to correct the discrepancy between an Apple product’s advertised space available and the actual space available for consumer’s personal use.

The previous Apple operating system, iOS 7, required 3.3 GB of space to download wirelessly and the operating system as a whole took up about 1 GB of storage. In comparison, the iOS8 takes about the same operating space, but needs 5.8 GB of available space to download, according to the Apple iOS 8 storage class action lawsuit.

The Apple iOS 8 storage class action lawsuit further claims that instead of correcting the space discrepancy, the company pushes consumers to buy more iCloud space. “Reasonable consumers, such as Plaintiff, do not expect this marked discrepancy between the advertised level of capacity and the available capacity of the Devices, as the operating system and other storage space unavailable to consumers occupies an extraordinary percentage of their Devices’ limited storage capacity,” the class action lawsuit states.

According to the Apple class action lawsuit, Orshan purchased two 16 GB iPhone 5s devices originally installed with iOS7 and two 16 GB iPads during the 2014 and 2012 years respectively. Orshan says he upgraded all four Apple products to the iOS 8 “with the belief that the upgrade would not substantially inhibit his available storage capacity.” He alleges that Apple failed to disclose to him or other consumers that iOS8 would devour his Apple devices’ additional storage capacity.

Similarly, plaintiff Endara purchased a 16 GB iPhone 6 under the similar belief that the advertised space reflected the actual space available on the device, but he lost much of the available storage space when he upgraded to the iOS 8, according to the Apple storage class action lawsuit.

Orshan and Endara have filed this Apple iOS 8 storage class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and a Class all U.S. owners of iPod, iPad, and iPhone products with 16GB or less of storage space with iOS 8 either pre-installed or which was later upgraded the most recent system. The Apple class action lawsuit brings several claims against the company, including claims of violating California’s unfair competition law, California’s false advertising law, and California’s consumer remedies law.

The plaintiffs are represented by Audet & Partners LLP, Cuneo Gilbert & Laduca LLP, and Baron & Herskowitz.

The Apple iOS 8 Storage Class Action Lawsuit is Orshan, et al. v. Apple Inc., Case No. 5:14-cv-05659-NC, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.