Apple Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Unresponsive iPhone 6 Touchscreens

[ValPower]

Not defending Apple, but I am not sure what people are expecting on a failure that happens outside of Warranty.

People are expecting it to not fail catastrophically and irreparably after 2 years of normal use. They are expecting that it's performance would diminish gradually so they could either continue to use it for a little bit longer or sell it back for more than zero dollars to buy the latest, expensive, unsubsidized model in the wash-rinse-and-repeat cycle that keeps Apple making money.

A replacement that addressed the design issue or a trade-in credit equal to the phone's value had it NOT had the design issue would be a start.

 

[jimbo1mcm]

This is going to be very interesting. I am not a lawyer, but this case will have the lawyers asking for all the information that Apple has had regarding the progression of the problem, including emails, notes etc. I will absolutely guarantee you that the timeline will make Apple look very bad. They have a bunch of smart guys. As soon as the problem surfaced, they knew what it was and they stonewalled it. I hope the jury takes this into account and assesses a penalty phase for a significant amount as a lesson to corporations that they have a responsibility to the consumer.

 

[alexforget82]

We need to start one in Canada too.

 

[Johnny907]

My mom's iPhone 6 has been presenting these same symptoms for a couple months now. I feel bad because I thought it was all in her head. Looks like I'll be sending her some apology flowers here this morning.

 

[that be me]

That took less time than I was expecting.

 

[macpanzer]

Good. Let's hope for a worldwide recall/repair program.

 

[apolloa]

Once again Apple must be forced into doing the right thing by its customers and cover this manufacturing/design defect for longer than the original stated warranty. It doesn't have to be this way Apple.

People don't care enough though for it to change, only 20 odd comments on this story, yet here we are again with Apple being sued for design flaws they charged customers to fix. This is a repeat and common occurance with Apple that has happened multiple times.
They say it's partly due to the phones bending which people on here passionately defended as happening.

 

[StevieD100]

If the USA had decent consumer protection laws then these lawsuits would be a thing of the past, a non event.
Oh well, the Phalanxes of lawyers who'd be out of a job would never let these sort of common sense laws get passed.
My Brothers iPhone 6 had this issue and it took him all of 5 minutes to get it replaced.

Apple should issue a recall and just replace all the affected devices. Then it would go away pretty quickly.

 

[Rogifan]

Apple is not Apple any longer R.I.P.

I seem to remember a GPU issue with Macs during the Steve Jobs era. And of course the cracked Cubes.

 

[Westside guy]

Yes lets join in, pad the pockets of the lawyers, and get nothing ourselves.

Padding the pockets of the lawyers is a given - but it's flat-out wrong to claim we "get nothing ourselves".

I've benefitted from these sorts of class action suits in the past. I had a power connector fail on a (Windows) laptop, and since it was out of warranty figured I'd either have to pay for the repair (which was going to be expensive since it involved the motherboard) or buy a new laptop. But I got one of those little cards in the mail stating I was recorded as having purchased this device and so was part of the class - and I was able to get the laptop fixed for free.

I had a similar experience with a faulty battery on a different laptop.

Heck, now that I think about it... I got a new Apple power adapter quite a few years ago due to Apple being forced to replace some early generation MagSafe power adapters! I don't remember if that got as far as a class action though, it may have just been a recall. But that laptop was not covered by AppleCare at that point, so it saved me 70 bucks.

I'd love to see strict limits on what sort of remuneration the lawyers can get in these sorts of cases... but they definitely do benefit consumers as well.

 

[rjohnstone]

I was fortunate enough to have mine replaced while it was still under warranty when this issue occurred on my second iPhone 6 Plus (refurb unit).
First one had a faulty power button.

 

[sransari]

I started having this issue very badly recently. I figured it was some software issue so I wiped my fone and restored from icloud. Didn't help. A family member had a similar issue and had the grey bar at the top of the screen and suggested i tried pressing the device around the corners. it helped, but the issue is starting to return and get worse.

What ticks me off is that since the device is out of warranty, I'll have to buy a new one for a design flaw. My phone has been case protected, doesn't have a scratch on it, and apple wants to make me pay for a phone new phone. I wouldn't mind it so much if the upcoming iPhone 7 was at all appealing, but it isn't, so when my device eventually fails completely in a couple weeks, I'll be stuck shelling out money out of my pocket for Apple's poor engineering. Absurd.

 

[jimbobb24]

I wonder if this is a trade off for force touch?

 

[Retro76]

Was there a bad batch ? Just curious as have well over 800 iPhone 6 Plus phones in the field and most are not handled gently and we have never experienced this. In fact the only issue to date was a wifi issue.

 

[Tuci]

This is America, elephants carry phones too. Core of the issue.

 

[LordVic]

Apple is not Apple any longer R.I.P.

Why?

this isn't the first time that Apple has had some sort of manufacturing defect that impacts its users. It wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last time. This isn't a "tim Cook v Steve Jobs" thing.

We all Remember the iPhone 4's Antenna attenuation kerfuffle, that not only saw Apple go quickly to fix/ redesign the antenna's, and release free plastic bumpers for the phone to help resolve the problem for those who already were experiencing it.

It also led to one of Steve Jobs most embarrassing comments "You're holding it wrong", which ended up making the rest of Apple have to scramble that much quicker to provide a solution as not to make Steve look like a big idiot to the industry.

This is just another instance of a manufacturing issue coming back to bite Apple in the butt. What will be telling is how does Apple respond to this.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Here we go again. All we have is iFixit reporting "increasing" numbers (as opposed to decreasing?), "dozens" of complaints and "multiple customers." Sounds like nobody knows what percentage of the tens of millions of iPhones sold have this problem.

 

[Zaft]

My Plus started doing this before I sold it. It was really annoying.
I wonder if I would get anything even if I dont have it now..

 

[macfanjoe]

Has anyone successfully gotten a replacement for this problem, when out of warranty?

 

[IJ Reilly]

This is going to be very interesting. I am not a lawyer, but this case will have the lawyers asking for all the information that Apple has had regarding the progression of the problem, including emails, notes etc. I will absolutely guarantee you that the timeline will make Apple look very bad. They have a bunch of smart guys. As soon as the problem surfaced, they knew what it was and they stonewalled it. I hope the jury takes this into account and assesses a penalty phase for a significant amount as a lesson to corporations that they have a responsibility to the consumer.

Wishful thinking, in a negative sort of way. These class action suits take years to resolve. Even assuming everything you say is correct, you'll own several new phones before you see anything.

 

[peterdevries]

I'm happy with this. Normally I think most class actions are money grabs, but this one is warranted. I certainly have this issue and would be happy to join the action.

Did you contact Apple first to see if you could get a repair of replacement?

 

[sofila]

One question: how much does it cost to fill a class action lawsuit? I know that all of this must be examined and eventually rejected, but I wonder what's the economical weight for the single customer to start something like this

 

[randyhudson]

Is this any different than the Yellow light of death (YLOD) that plagued Sony's PS3. Sony was never accountable for what was obviously a poor circuit board design.

 

[visualride]

My Plus started doing this before I sold it. It was really annoying.
I wonder if I would get anything even if I dont have it now..

Um, my girlfriend, who has zero morality in this regard, also suggested that I sell mine because of it's problem. Morally, I could not do that. Hopefully you let your buyer know of the problem with your phone. Think of how you would feel if you bought a used phone just to find that it had this terminal problem? I'm suffering through my phone barely working till the 7 comes out...though I was originally planning on skipping the 7 and waiting one more year.

 

[H2SO4]

"Apple doesn't recognize it as an issue". Now it will recognize for sure

They already do. This is one of the longest posts over at Apple Support Communities. It’s full of people with problems and also typically, full of highly ranked posters telling those with an issue ad nauseum things like;

• Had you bothered to read the Terms of Use of this forum that YOU agreed to by signing up to post…….and,
• Your warranty expired five months ago. If a one-year warranty was not sufficient for your needs, then why did you purchase the product under those terms?…..and,
• No. You are not. This is a user forum. You are not speaking to Apple at all.

What crap they spew sometimes.