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- Apple is being sued over allegations of a defect in the Apple Watch Series 3 that causes the battery to swell and the screen to potentially pop off the watch’s main body or crack.
- A woman says that Apple declined to replace her Apple Watch Series 3 under warranty after she experienced this problem, and instead quoted her an out-of-warranty repair price of $229.
- The proposed class-action lawsuit states Apple "either knew, or should have known, that the Watches contain the Defect and are not fit for their intended purpose."
- Apple Watch Series 2 owners experienced similar issues — Apple offered a free repair program for specific models of the Apple Watch Series 2 starting last year.
It seems that some issues with the Apple Watch Series 2 — where some users complained of swelling batteries and screens that pop off — could have made it to some 2017 models of the more recent Apple Watch Series 3.
New Jersey resident Gina Priano-Keyser has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Apple, seeking damages over claims that the screen of her Apple Watch Series 3 detached off the watch’s main body and cracked. The filing says that Priano-Keyser’s daughter tried to push the screen back into place, but the Apple Watch has reportedly been "unusable" ever since, according to MacRumors, which first reported on the lawsuit.
That’s a similar problem to one that some Apple Watch Series 2 owners faced. In April 2018, Apple offered free repairs on defective Apple Watch Series 2 models for up to three years. But Priano-Kayser claims that Apple denied an in-warranty repair for her Apple Watch Series 3 in August 2018, and was quoted an out-of-warranty cost of $229 to fix it.
And so, Priano-Keyser engaged the services of the Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah, LLP law firm to sue Apple, claiming that all models of Apple Watch are affected by a manufacturing flaw that causes the battery to swell.
The proposed class-action lawsuit alleges that all versions of the Apple Watch so far can have screens that pop off or crack because of "aging or otherwise faulty li-on batteries, or by defective internal components of the Watches that regulate temperature, electrical currents, charging, and other mechanisms that could affect the Watches’ li-on batteries."
The suit also alleges that all Apple Watch generations "contain the same defect and/or flaw, specifically, swelling lithium-ion (or “li-on”) batteries, which in turn cause Apple Watch screens to crack, shatter, or detach from the body of the Watch (the “Defect”), through no fault of the wearer, oftentimes only days or weeks after purchase."
The filing further claims that Apple "either knew, or should have known, that the Watches contain the Defect and are not fit for their intended purpose."
The class-action lawsuit proposal cites over a dozen similar complaints that users submitted in Apple’s support forums. Still, it’s not clear just how many users might actually be affected by similar problems with their Apple Watch Series 3.
Business Insider reached out to Apple and Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah, LLP for comment and will update if we hear back.
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Antonio Villas-Boas)