Apple accused of fake marketing and fraud over MacBook M1 display issues

Apple is facing a new class action lawsuit in the United States that accuses it of false or misleading marketing for the M1-powered MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, fraudulent business practices, misconduct in customer service and violation of the law. the consumption.

The lawsuit, filed this week in the Northern District of California, represents Apple customers across the United States who have experienced hardware defects in their MacBook Pro M1 and MacBook Air‌.

Over the past few months, a significant number of customers have reported that the screens of their new Apple silicon MacBooks suddenly cracked or displayed black horizontal and vertical lines, rendering them unusable. As the lawsuit alleges, these customers claimed that the cracks and malfunctions were caused by a material defect rather than the user themselves.

While responding to these complaints, the lawsuit attempts to cast a larger shadow over Apple’s “deceptive marketing” and “fraudulent” business practices. The lawsuit accuses the Cupertino tech giant of falsely advertising the 13-inch screens of the MacBook Pro and ‌MacBook Air‌ as “premium [in] quality, reliability and durability ”, although Apple allegedly knows otherwise.

Apple is accused in the lawsuit of having deliberately deceived customers by touting the quality of the MacBook Pro and “MacBook Air” screens. According to the case, Apple engaged in fraudulent business practices since its “rigorous testing” of the screens before their release should have revealed the alleged defect. Despite this, the company continued to release the product.

Despite this knowledge, [Apple] did not disclose and actively hide the display defect from the public, and continued to market and advertise the [laptops] as high-end and durable laptops, when in fact normal operation … often results in catastrophic damage, rendering devices unusable.

“To ensure durability, we evaluated the 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ in our reliability testing lab, using rigorous testing methods that simulate customer experiences,” Apple said, according to the lawsuit, as an additional document indicating that the company was aware of the defect. The company has been “reckless” in its failure to identify the weakness, the lawsuit notes.

While fraudulently and falsely marketing the displays as “superior, reliable and durable,” the lawsuit further accuses Apple of a serious violation of consumer law, under California state law. Specifically, the lawsuit accuses Apple of violating consumer law by refusing to repair customer screens, even when they were under warranty.

The lawsuit cites a customer who was cited at $ 480 for replacing the screen on his damaged “MacBook Air”, while another customer was told it would cost $ 615. In many other cases, according to the lawsuit, Apple has refused to repair warranty displays because the company claimed they were user-caused and believed they were accidentally broken.

In some cases, leaving debris between the MacBook and its cover can cause damage; However, the lawsuit says that no customer has done so and that the widespread nature of the defect further proves that it is a manufacturing defect rather than anything else.

The trial highlights a valid point. For customers, whether the repairs were paid for out of pocket or not, the replaced display unit would, in theory, also be defective. As a result, the lawsuit accuses Apple of other malpractice by putting users in an endless loop of faulty displays, resulting in costly repairs and then “equally faulty replacements.”

Due to Apple’s misconduct, [customers] have been harmed and suffered actual damage, including the fact that the group’s laptops contain faulty screens, have manifested and continue to manifest the display defect, and Apple has not provided a remedy for the defect screen. [Customers] have also incurred and will continue to incur unreimbursed costs and expenses related to the Screen Failure.

In its current form, the lawsuit does not seek damages or monetary compensation from Apple. Instead, it asks Apple to reverse its “false marketing” of the quality and reliability of its MacBook displays, as noted above, and “fix, repair, replace or otherwise rectify [its] illegal, unfair, false and / or deceptive practices. “

The lawsuit gives Apple 30 days, starting August 30, to deal with customers and the alleged display defect. Once the 30 days have passed, without any action from Apple, the lawsuit, representing Apple customers and others involved, will move forward to seek damages from the company.

The specific amount of damages sought will be identified later in the requested jury trial. However, the collective monetary damages of Apple customers who suffered the aforementioned display defect amount to more than $ 5 million, excluding ill-gotten income and punitive damages caused by the “deceptive practices” of Apple.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment when contacted for a response to the lawsuit.