Apple Sued Over Unresponsive iPhone 6 Touchscreens

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Apparently a class action lawsuit is brewing over that iPhone 6 screen defect we told you about last week (here). Since the design defect affects all iPhone 6 Plus owners, I can't even begin to imagine how much a lawsuit like this could end up costing Apple.

Apple Inc has been sued by owners of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones who say a design defect causes the phones' touchscreens to become unresponsive, making them unusable. According to a proposed nationwide class-action lawsuit filed on Saturday, Apple has long been aware of the defect, which often surfaces after a flickering gray bar appears atop the touchscreens, but has refused to fix it.
 
You're touching it wrong.

thats-what-she-said.jpg
 
To be fair, Apple is only refusing to fix it on phones that are out of warranty.

Pretty much any company would do this.

The warranty statements usually say something to the effect of "<company> warrants <product> against any manufacturing defects for a period of <years> years."

If manufacturing defects come to light after that, they have no legal responsibility for it.

Now, we all usually expect our devices to last longer than that, but from a technical perspective, once that warranty period is up, its no longer their problem. They told you it would last for a year, and it lasted for a year. They have fulfilled their obligation. The fact that end users expect the device to last longer than the warranty period is frankly moot.
 
You're an Apple user, you're supposed to buy a new one and you're supposed to get the dork bar contract or whatever it's called.
 
I'll jump on this. My touch screen malfunctions sometimes as well. No weird gray bar it just stops responding for random amounts of time.
 
To be fair, Apple is only refusing to fix it on phones that are out of warranty.

Pretty much any company would do this.

The warranty statements usually say something to the effect of "<company> warrants <product> against any manufacturing defects for a period of <years> years."

If manufacturing defects come to light after that, they have no legal responsibility for it.

Now, we all usually expect our devices to last longer than that, but from a technical perspective, once that warranty period is up, its no longer their problem. They told you it would last for a year, and it lasted for a year. They have fulfilled their obligation. The fact that end users expect the device to last longer than the warranty period is frankly moot.

There is of course public opinion and pressure. We'll see if Apple relents if pressure ramps up.
 
This just in... Customers break out of warranty phones and then Apple won't fix them for free.
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Well no shit! People are turning into such bitches it's ridiculous.
 
Worst case for Apple is something similar to what happened to Microsoft's Xbox 360 RROD complimentary repair program. No free iPhones for everyone...

Suck as it may but the reality is Apple is only on the hook for the 1st year after purchase unless you decided to purchase Apple care. Maybe it's time for a new phone or pay for the repair through Apple, which I doubt people are being denied, they are likely being denied free repairs.
 
The failures are the result of a design and/or manufacturing defect. Basically it's the solder ball thing all over again.

Is Apple legally required to fix them after the warranty expires? Probably not, unless you can win based on implied warranties (IANAL, but that seems nearly impossible to me). Is failing to do so bad for their reputation? Quite possibly.
 
From what I was seeing about this, it is because people are sitting on their phones and breaking them.

Can't fix stupid.

Maybe Apple should sue the clothing companies for putting back pockets on their products.
 
I had two 6+ phones do this. Both needed to be replaced. It mainly did this after the 9.3 update.
If on TMo, you can trade in any paid off iPhone 5 and up for a 6s model. Get rid of the iPhone 6 while you have the chance.

Yesterday I picked up a Note 7. Feels good to be back home.
 
I was in an apple store over the weekend (getting my iphone 6 battery checked) and there were multiple people in there complaining about this issue.
 
You're an Apple user, you're supposed to buy a new one and you're supposed to get the dork bar contract or whatever it's called.

Exactly. Could you imagine how rediculous it would be if every single cell phone company came out with a new top of the line model every year? Id be like " Hello, this isn't just some disposable commodity!"

Fuggin' Apple.
 
Why people bother with this?

Even if they win most of the money goes into legal fees.
 
I had two 6+ phones do this. Both needed to be replaced. It mainly did this after the 9.3 update.
If on TMo, you can trade in any paid off iPhone 5 and up for a 6s model. Get rid of the iPhone 6 while you have the chance.

Yesterday I picked up a Note 7. Feels good to be back home.
any details on this i'm curious about this trade deal.
 
To be fair, Apple is only refusing to fix it on phones that are out of warranty.

Pretty much any company would do this.

The warranty statements usually say something to the effect of "<company> warrants <product> against any manufacturing defects for a period of <years> years."

If manufacturing defects come to light after that, they have no legal responsibility for it.

Now, we all usually expect our devices to last longer than that, but from a technical perspective, once that warranty period is up, its no longer their problem. They told you it would last for a year, and it lasted for a year. They have fulfilled their obligation. The fact that end users expect the device to last longer than the warranty period is frankly moot.

If it were that simple, then yes. However Apple is:

1) Censoring/banning people on their support forums who are explaining and offering a fix, even while aware of the issue
2) "Diagnosing" it out of warranty by first replacing the LCD/Digitizer, which means in the end they could be spending over $500 to fix a phone, which half the repairs weren't needed
3) Not offering a microsoldering option for fixing the joints and/or replacing the Touch IC chips, and only offering an expensive board replacement which makes it cost prohibitive (which could be done cheaper, but see item #1)
4) Telling people to downgrade their iOS version which may fix the problem (while under warranty), or replacing the digitizer, but because the problem is intermittent, the issue returns when it is out of warranty, regardless if the problems started before

On top of this, their current line of phones lack the hardening resin to secure the chip solder points, as well as no backplate to limit flex on a more flex prone phone. These were available on their previous phones that cost half as much. Sure if the above points weren't an issue, they could just say no, but it's a kick in the face to their loyal customers who pay top dollar for a quality (arguably of course) device, which happens to be sub par, with poor support or repair options.
 
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Apple, the Dyson of electronics

Dyson, the Apple of suck & blow products.

Apple product has been lacking lately. Their software quality used to be the main reason why iOS sold so well, but soon after Tim Cook took over, with Scott Forstall departures, everything went down to shit.
iPhone 6 design is a complete crap, and the OS became more and more unstable like Android. Not sure who is really in charge anymore. The only thing left from Apple that I find to be still in good shape is MacBook, TV, and Watch, everything else is crap.

------------------

To be fair, this touch issue is user problem, you will face similar problem if you sit on any other phone like that.....

Apple sucks and blow on iPhone, Samsung burns and explode with Galaxy..... :penguin:
 
Lol! Land of the free eh - over here, consumer protection laws would fuck them even out of warranty.

Case in point, my father had the high end, full-fat UX302LA? ASUS ultrabook (1440p/raid 0 SSDs and the rest), it failed after 2.5 years, warranty was allegedly 1 year. He didn't even get me to help, warranty/insurance/consumer law is an area of expertise with much experience for me, simply just mentioned 'what would the consumer commission think about that' to my supplier and it was fixed in a few weeks...

Apple, the Dyson of electronics

Dyson, the Apple of suck & blow products.

Why the Dyson hate? My mum handed one down to me (one of the OG ones) and it's still going perfectly fine today after 15+ years? Better than the Miele Italian bullshit we had before.
 
never had issues with my phone! words of advice, don't sit on it, don't put it in the sun and don't press too hard lol.
yet if Apple cares they would not tell us they wont fix it....companies like these has to give customer their support and satisfactory, its important. We buy, they help in keeping their products up to date, problem free.
 
Why the Dyson hate? My mum handed one down to me (one of the OG ones) and it's still going perfectly fine today after 15+ years? Better than the Miele Italian bullshit we had before.

Mine had the worse suction ever. I bought a Bissell that does so much better. The Dyson just didn't have the same suction power. The Bissell will rip your face off, the Dyson would move some air, but not much more. It barely picked up any dirt or anything in the carpet. Go over it with the Bissell and you can see what it missed... I just can't stand their overly priced, inferior products. I gave it to my mother in law. :)

iPhone... Mine will not take touch for a few seconds, but I baby this thing. Got it a couple months ago and it's definitely within warranty. I just want to make sure that's the problem and not something else...
 
Mine had the worse suction ever. I bought a Bissell that does so much better. The Dyson just didn't have the same suction power. The Bissell will rip your face off, the Dyson would move some air, but not much more. It barely picked up any dirt or anything in the carpet. Go over it with the Bissell and you can see what it missed... I just can't stand their overly priced, inferior products. I gave it to my mother in law. :)

iPhone... Mine will not take touch for a few seconds, but I baby this thing. Got it a couple months ago and it's definitely within warranty. I just want to make sure that's the problem and not something else...

Something was wrong with your dyson then. The main problem with them is that if you own area rugs, you are fucked because of the amount of suction. I have a ~8x12 rug that withstands it except at the edges/corners. Smaller ones it just starts dragging around. What IS bullshit is the claim that they never clog and that they will never clog even in the presence of pet hair. You can clog them, and you need to clean the filters or you will lose suction. And pet hair will still tangle rollers and clog shit up.
 
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Something was wrong with your dyson then. The main problem with them is that if you own area rugs, you are fucked because of the amount of suction. I have a ~8x12 rug that withstands it except at the edges/corners. Smaller ones it just starts dragging around. What IS bullshit is the claim that they never clog and that they will never clog even in the presence of pet hair. You can clog them, and you need to clean the filters or you will lose suction. And pet hair will still tangle rollers and clog shit up.

This. I thought it sucked poorly until cleaning it out and since then looking after it. It has the rotating brushes to avoid purely relying on suction, different way to move stuff.
Saw a orbital sander style version in use, loud as hell on resonating floors.
 
Yeah, Dyson vacuums are awesome. I managed to get mine clogged up deep in the middle of the vacuum's pipes and found there was a simple tool-less way to open that section and remove the obstruction. It's almost like the engineer's actually tried to make a good product instead of the typical anti-consumer crap.
 
Yeah, Dyson vacuums are awesome. I managed to get mine clogged up deep in the middle of the vacuum's pipes and found there was a simple tool-less way to open that section and remove the obstruction. It's almost like the engineer's actually tried to make a good product instead of the typical anti-consumer crap.

Stains are great vacuums and all, but IMHO, if I'm going buy a $600 vacuum it had better clean all on its own without my help, make me dinner and mow the lawn.
 
Stains are great vacuums and all, but IMHO, if I'm going buy a $600 vacuum it had better clean all on its own without my help, make me dinner and mow the lawn.
Huh. Mine was only about $300. And time is money. If I have to vacuum, I at least want it to work right and be quick -- so I can get back to playing Elite for 6 hours. :D
 
Huh. Mine was only about $300. And time is money. If I have to vacuum, I at least want it to work right and be quick -- so I can get back to playing Elite for 6 hours. :D

I of course meant Dyson, but apparently my phone thought I meant "stains". They must have cheaper versions now then. I havent shopped the vacuum cleaner section of nay store I've been in for several years now, but when the Dyson's first came out they were all $600... Except the mini ones.
 
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