Apple Moves to Dismiss Allegations That iOS 15 Degrades Performance of Older iPhones

The allegations of nine iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus users that Apple falsely promoted iOS 15 as improving the performance of their older devices but instead degraded the devices’ performance (see 2308030055) “undermine the entirety of their complaint,” said Apple’s memorandum of points and authorities Friday (docket 5:23-cv-03882) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose in support of its motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs concede they voluntarily installed iOS 15, and that alone “warrants dismissal of the computer-intrusion claims, all of which require that Apple accessed their iPhones without their permission,” said the memorandum. The complaint also asserts Apple designed iOS 15 to harness new technology and to protect devices from security vulnerabilities, not to harm older devices, so they can’t “plausibly allege intent to damage their devices,” it said. The complaint also doesn’t identify “an actionable misstatement or omission -- let alone one that plaintiffs relied on -- so their consumer-protection claims cannot survive,” it said. Those “overarching flaws” aren’t the complaint’s only problems, said the memorandum. It contains a range of additional “claim-specific deficiencies” that provide independent grounds for dismissal of many of the claims, it said. A private right of action is available under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act only if plaintiffs allege at least $5,000 in losses during a single year, but the complaint “makes no attempt to quantify the alleged injuries here,” it said. The trespass claim “requires significant interference with plaintiffs’ property interest in their iPhones,” said the memorandum. That’s a standard “not met by assertions of reduced battery life or delays of a fraction of a second in opening apps,” as the plaintiffs claim they encountered on their iPhone 7s after installing the iOS 15 update, it said. The trespass claim also is barred by the “economic loss rule,” which limits tort recovery “to narrow circumstances not alleged here,” it said. The California False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition Law claims also should be dismissed “because they are equitable claims for which jurisdiction and statutory standing is lacking,” it said. The Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act claim is untimely “and not based on an actionable economic injury,” it said. A range of factors, including the amount of available memory, battery health, cell signal strength and outdated apps, could affect device performance, said Apple. But the plaintiffs claim “this purported performance degradation occurred because iOS 15 was optimized for newer iPhone models with more powerful chips,” it said.