Apple intelligence delay leads to lawsuit for misleading consumers

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Apple’s decision to delay “more personalized Siri” is getting costlier and costlier. Apple is slapped with a new federal lawsuit that alleges the Cupertino firm’s promotion of now-delayed Apple Intelligence features constitutes false advertising and unfair competition, reports Axios.

Fairly recently, Apple delayed one of its most compelling Apple Intelligence features for Siri indefinitely.

After that, the company pulled a YouTube ad that showcased the feature running on iPhone 16, and later, it updated the website with a new disclaimer wherever the aforementioned Siri features were mentioned on the iPhone marketing page. 

Now, Apple is facing a lawsuit that says that the promotion of Apple Intelligence features generated unprecedented excitement among consumers, which drove them to upgrade at a premium price point.

What is the Apple Intelligence lawsuit? 

Apple Intelligence played a definite role in marketing iOS 18 and iPhone 16 models. 

The company ran ads promoting the Apple Intelligence features, including Image Playground, Genmoji, and, of course, the personalized Siri. 

The lawsuit targets some of these ads, specifically those that showed off the Siri features, which are still unavailable.

The plaintiffs note that Apple is in a clear violation. The company cultivated a clear and reasonable consumer expectation with those features, which were supposed to be available upon the iPhone’s release.

It convinced millions of consumers to upgrade to the latest iPhone, and now it seems that wasn’t necessary. 

Meanwhile, after delaying the Siri features until next year, Apple promptly removed the ad and added new disclaimers to its website regarding the feature’s availability.

However, at this point, they had been running the ad for several months.

Apple is accused of advertising non-existing features and continuing to do so even well after the company realized it would not be available on time. 

Contrary to Defendant’s claims of advanced AI capabilities, the Products offered a significantly limited or entirely absent version of Apple Intelligence, misleading consumers about its actual utility and performance. Worse yet, Defendant promoted its Products based on these overstated AI capabilities, leading consumers to believe they were purchasing a device with features that did not exist or were materially misrepresented.

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in San Jose. The plaintiffs are seeking the class action status and damages for consumers who purchased an Apple device with Apple Intelligence support. 

Axios further notes the lawsuit was filed by Clarkson Law Firm. Coincidentally—maybe not, it is the same firm that sued OpenAI and Google over their AI practices.

What do you think about this lawsuit? Do you think Apple Intelligence marketing has been deceptive? Tell us your thoughts below in the comments, or via our Twitter or Facebook.