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Apple accused of 'misleading' customers about display, hiding notch

Apple accused of 'misleading' customers about display, hiding notch

Dec 16, 2018
04:27 pm

What's the story

Apple has been accused of misleading customers about the display of the iPhone X, Xs, and Xs Max. In a fresh lawsuit, two plaintiffs have alleged the Cupertino giant lied about the said devices, giving false information about their display sizes and pixel counts in the marketing material. They have even alleged that the company tried obscuring the notch with deceptive wallpapers. Here's more.

Lawsuit details

False information about screen size, per lawsuit

In the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court of Northern California, the plaintiffs have noted that Apple lied about the display size by including non-screen areas like notch and clipped corners in its calculation, CNET reported. This way, it misinterpreted the displays by "about 1/16 of an inch" and offered a smaller panel instead of the 'all screen' offering promised in the adverts.

Information

Case of lower pixel count

In the same 55-page complaint, the plaintiffs have alleged that Apple offered a lower resolution display on the iPhones in question. They claimed that the devices lack true pixels and carry a lower pixel count than advertised.

Deceptive wallpapers

Notch hidden with deceptive wallpapers

One of the plaintiffs, Courtney Davis, also alleged that the marketing material for the new iPhones depicts the devices in a way that their notch becomes invisible. Put simply, the angle of iPhone images and the partly black default wallpaper chosen by Apple led Davis into thinking that the iPhones won't have notch cut-out, which, obviously, didn't turn out to be true.

Quote

Here's what the lawsuit alleged

"Images that disguise the missing pixels on the Products' screens are prominent on Defendant's website as well as in advertisments," the lawsuit read. "These images were relied on by Plaintiff Davis, who believed that the iPhone XS and XS Max would not have a notch."

Apple's remark

So far, no word from Apple

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, raises questions over Apple's marketing practices, especially about the notch. Apple's wallpaper choice clearly obscures the notch, but there's no way of saying if the company made the move with the intention of hiding the cut-out or it is just plain oversight. So far, the company has not commented on the matter.