Italy Fines Apple $12 Million for Misleading iPhone Water Resistance Claims

[dca100]

Good decision. Apple's marketing claims about water resistance really don't stack-up in reality, as evidenced by their refusal to cover water damage claims under warranty. I feel quite strongly about this after my iPhone XS Max was bricked after being splashed (not submerged) next to our kitchen sink. No dice from Apple - would have been an out of warranty replacement. I doubt they will change their positioning or policies on the back of this though. Wonder where the $12m will go? Hopefully to a fund for impacted users

 

[one more]

FWIW, my iPhone 7 accidentally spent about 10-15 minutes in the washing machine about a year ago. When I realised it was put there, I stopped the machine, took the much cleaner iPhone out of it, dried it with a towel and continued using it. The only real issue was a muffled sound from the speakers, which self-resolved once the iPhone dried completely. A few weeks later after this incident I took the same iPhone to the official Apple Store to swap its battery (unrelated to it being washed), so Apple run their usual pre-repair tests on it and found nothing wrong with the iPhone. The battery was swapped and the iPhone is still going strong today. ✌️

 

[bousozoku]

My iPhone 7 plus is supposed to be water resistance. I rinsed it under the tap lightly to clean off dirt on screen. It gets water in immediately and screen/touched got ruined. I never believe in Apple or any vendors claim on water resistance any more. I continue to use that **** and refuse to pay for another one as long as I can.

Interesting. My iPhone 7 was underwater with me for several minutes and worked for more than one more year when it was accidentally smacked and the display and Touch ID sensor were damaged.

 

[JosephAW]

I just rinsed off my iPhone 8 Plus the other day, no problems so far

 

[LongWayHome]

I actually kind of agree with this. When my pristine condition iPhone 11 Pro Max had a speaker go out on it the first thing the Apple employee did was to check for water damage. When I asked what he was doing he said he was checking to see if water had gotten inside the phone as it wouldn't be covered under warranty.

When I said "I thought the phone was water resistant" he said "It is, but if water gets inside it it isn't covered." Seemed a little strange to me. If you aren't going to cover water damage then don't market your phones as water resistant.

I asked if the same applied to my watch and he said yes, which to me is baffling. You literally show people swimming in your ads with the watch on but aren't going to cover it if water gets inside the watch.

 

[dca100]

You’re the one who admitted running it under a faucet. Idiot

Huh? If it's designed (Apple's claim) to withstand total submersion in several metres of water for a sustained period of time I think it's reasonable to presume it should cope with a quick rinse under a tap for a couple of seconds.

 

[sw1tcher]

In marketing materials related to iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, Apple said its iPhones were water resistant at a depth of between one and four meters for up to 30 minutes, depending on the model.

I always thought it was BS to claim any sort of water resistance and then deny any form of warranty liquid claim.

I agree.

Maybe Apple denies warranty coverage for liquid damage because there's no way to prove at what depth and duration the iPhone was submerged for?

How do you prove your iPhone wasn't submerged for more than what Apple advertises the iPhone as being capable of?

 

[iBluetooth]

Exactly. Either the device has some sort of meaningful water resistance that a consumer will encouter like rain, sink splashes, even a falling in a pool sort of situation or you shouldn't get to claim water resistance at all.

As one testing devices for these kind of standards. It's impossible to test for "real" conditions, as all tests have to be repeatable and thus the liquid has to be determined. Otherwise they should get water samples from all rivers and lakes in Italy and toilet water samples ...

 

[Cold.mira]

this is idiotic

The only idiotic thing is the mere €10m they have been fined as it should have been much more, you can't go and advertise water resistance and then not covering water damage in your warranty.
Either one or the other.

 

[44267547]

I don’t care what these manufacturers claim, water and phones just don’t mix. I just have the mindset of keeping my phone away from water in general, and I don’t bring it into the bathroom with me, where steam can also be a culprit for infiltrating past the seals, causing internal damage.

 

[kstotlani]

I actually kind of agree with this. When my pristine condition iPhone 11 Pro Max had a speaker go out on it the first thing the Apple employee did was to check for water damage. When I asked what he was doing he said he was checking to see if water had gotten inside the phone as it wouldn't be covered under warranty.

When I said "I thought the phone was water resistant" he said "It is, but if water gets inside it it isn't covered." Seemed a little strange to me. If you aren't going to cover water damage then don't market your phones as water resistant.

I asked if the same applied to my watch and he said yes, which to me is baffling. You literally show people swimming in your ads with the watch on but aren't going to cover it if water gets inside the watch.

I too was wondering about the watch. My watch would be filled with water spots because of swimming. It would be crazy if Apple didn’t honor warranty of the watch because of water. It has feature to throw water out.

 

[Quu]

The regulator also took issue with Apple's warranty terms, which do not cover damage caused by liquids. The authority considered it inappropriate to push an "aggressive" commercial practice highlighting water resistance as a feature, while at the same time refusing to provide post-sales warranty assistance if the iPhone models in question suffer water damage.

Seems reasonable to me. Italy is doing right by consumers.

 

[Wando64]

this is idiotic

Did you read this bit?

"highlighting water resistance as a feature, while at the same time refusing to provide post-sales warranty assistance if the ‌iPhone‌ models in question suffer water damage."

THAT is idiotic.

 

[CleverClock]

That’s why I decided to get the monthly AppleCare plan for my iPhone. I don’t trust the seals to hold forever and I rather be save than sorry.

Nice try promoting Apple care

 

[UK-MacAddict]

Absolutely Apple should be held accountable for its own claims.

I’ve always thought the fact they advertise water resistance but don’t help if the phone is water damaged was wrong.

But every company should be held accountable for its products not just Apple alone.

They should make it law that they cannot make claims about products based on specific controlled conditions nobody would ever encounter. Everything must be real world testing.

I’ve posted before about how Apple never compare the correct models when releasing new products. For instance I think for iPhone X they made a performance jump comparison with the original iPhone, which is ridiculous. They never compared the iPhone XS Max to the X or the 11 Pro Max to the XS Max for performance.

Its also stupid that they discontinue the previous iPhone models and keep older models with worse performance. The 11 Pro and Pro Max should still be on sale at lower price points and anything under that discontinued.

 

[Radeon85]

If Apple thinks the water resistance is good then they need to back that up with warranty claims if it gets water damaged if you stayed within Apples recommended limits.

Apple themselves has made promotional videos showing it's water resistance, whether rain or spillages, but to then say sorry we can't help you as it's water damaged maybe because of a dodgy seal is a load of bollocks. Damn right they should be fined.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

10 million Euros! That'll teach 'em!

They spent more than that airing said commercial.

 

[locrumo]

It is water resistant if you keep it away from water.

 

[acidblood]

I agree.

Maybe Apple denies warranty coverage for liquid damage because there's no way to prove at what depth and duration the iPhone was submerged for?

How do you prove your iPhone wasn't submerged for more than what Apple advertises the iPhone as being capable of?

The electronics to detect

1. whether the phone is in contact with water, and
2. at what water pressure

are pretty simple to implement, if Apple wished to do so. And measuring the time the phone spends under such conditions is self-evidently trivial.

So no, that's not the issue. It's about customers not caring enough about being played for a fool.

Disclaimer: I am an electrical engineer, specializing in electronics design.

 

[LongWayHome]

In fairness I hope Italy is fining Samsung as well because they also don't cover their devices for liquid damage despite touting water resistance.

 

[Veinticinco]

About time this deception was called out. Hopefully other EU countries (US consumer laws are a joke) will follow suit and force an adoption of a transparent and consistent repair policy, aligned with promotional claims. Up the fine whilst they’re about it.

 

[tridley68]

So common sense is don't take your phone to the pool or lake or bathtub unless you want to damage it Electronic Devices and water don't mix

 

[44267547]

So common sense is don't take your phone to the pool or lake or bathtub unless you want to damage it Electronic Devices and water don't mix

Right, we know that, but does the average consumer? That’s the question. Also, ‘common sense’ doesn’t prevail when these phone manufacturers are advocating you ‘can bring your phone around water and get them wet’. So therefore consumers will buy into that marketing and find out their phones won’t survive what based on what they actually see on TV. This is why this lawsuit exists to begin with, perhaps you missed that in the article.

 

[acidblood]

So common sense is don't take your phone to the pool or lake or bathtub unless you want to damage it Electronic Devices and water don't mix

So why does Apple claim water resistance? And sometimes even makes ads showing devices being splashed/submerged with water?

 

[foobarbaz]

No it's not. I fell down while swimming this summer and my iPhone only briefly went in shallow water and would not charge for days before being ok. I almost junked it as I thought it might be hopeless. So these waterproof claims are seriously bogus. And we're not talking meters here either. I'm talking only splashing inches into the water and that made it fail! to charge anymore!

And guess what the solution was? Spraying more water on the connector and then putting it back in the tray of rice! HAHA!

So, it's working perfectly fine after cleaning and drying? So what are you complaining about, exactly?