If you’ve noticed your iPhone has started playing up lately, you’re not alone. There’s a long-held conspiracy theory that Apple intentionally make their phones stop working around the time they announce new ones. Classic planned obsolescence and all that.
Most will shrug it off as a coincidence, but here’s the thing – Apple has just admitted in court that the iPhone is only legally guaranteed to last one year. Straight from the horses bloody mouth.
The company is currently battling a class-action lawsuit filed by some pissed off customers who say their devices copped touch disease. A small number of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users reported the issue, which left them with touch screens that were unresponsive or had spotty functionality.
Rather than take responsibility for the defect, Apple has chosen to point out the product warranty, saying the iPhone is not guaranteed to last more than one year, which is a piss-poor effort on their part given the claims of ‘the most durable materials’ being used every fucking year.
Of course, many companies only offer 12 month warranties on their phones, but it’s a fairly reasonable consumer expectation that they last at least as long as the 24 month contract one signs to get them. This is exactly what the plaintiffs are arguing.
“Consumers reasonably expect that smartphones will remain operable for at least two years when not subject to abuse or neglect because the overwhelming majority of smartphone users are required to sign service contracts with (mobile) carriers for two year periods,” they argue.
Apple’s lawyer, Arturo González, is attempting to have the case thrown out, saying it’s “not appropriate for courts to rewrite the express terms of a warranty simply because of a consumer’s unilateral expectations about a product.”
He also argues that customers expecting their devices to work for the duration of their telco contract would place an unfair burden on the company. Wow.
To be fair, we all agree to these terms when we purchase an iPhone, so no one should really be surprised by this, but it doesn’t make it suck any less.
