IPhone Water Resistance Lawsuit: Apple’s Misleading Claims Under Fire

So, let’s talk about phone manufacturers and their warranties. Specifically, Apple and the fact that they claim their iPhones can survive being submerged in water, but don’t actually cover water damage in their warranties. Yeah, it’s a bit of a contradiction.

A 19-year-old student in Mexico recently had her brand new iPhone stop working after it got wet near a pool. She took it to the Genius Bar, but Apple told her they couldn’t fix it because it had come into contact with water. The student’s attorney, Joey Zukran, is trying to turn this into a class-action suit and wants Apple to void the part of their warranty that excludes water damage.

Zukran’s argument is that Apple’s marketing materials claim the iPhone can withstand being dropped in a pool, but the warranty explicitly excludes liquid contact. He thinks this is a contradictory clause in the consumer contract and is pushing for Apple to reimburse customers who had to pay to repair their water-damaged iPhones or buy new ones.

This isn’t the first time Zukran has taken on Apple. He previously won a lawsuit against the company over an iPhone battery issue, and the ruling was upheld by the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2021.

Interestingly, a U.S. district judge dismissed a similar lawsuit in 2022, saying that the plaintiffs presented no evidence proving that their phones were damaged by liquid contact. However, the judge did leave the door open for the possibility that Apple’s ads could mislead consumers into thinking their iPhones were protected from water ingress.

Apple has faced similar issues in other countries, too. In 2020, the company was fined $12 million by an Italian agency for making claims about iPhone water resistance without disclosing that the numbers were only achieved under ideal laboratory conditions.

It’s worth noting that it might take a landmark legal defeat against Apple or another major smartphone manufacturer to get them to cover water damage in their warranties. Until then, consumers are often left footing the bill for repairs or buying new phones when their devices get damaged by water.

As Zukran put it, “You essentially have a contract that says your phone is ‘Oops resistant’, you can drop it in the pool, and you’ll be fine, only to come a few paragraphs later and say liquid contact voids your warranty.” Yeah, it sounds like a bit of a Catch-22 to me.