With every upgrade that Apple issues for it's mobile operating system, iOS, users all over the world are sent scrambling to free up enough space in order to update their device. This process is often both frustrating and infuriating for users trying to keep their precious iPhones and iPads up to date. Now, it seems, users have had enough.
A lawsuit has been filed this week against Apple Inc. that alleges that the upgrades to iOS 8 are to blame, and that the company misled its customers about how much storage it would take up.
In a legal complaint filed in California, Miami residents Paul Orshan and Christopher Endara accuse Apple of "storage capacity misrepresentations and omissions" concerning its 8GB and 16GB iPhones, iPads and iPods. Orshan owns two iPhone 5's and two iPads while Endara recently purchased the latest iPhone 6.
They contend the upgrades to the operating system take up as much as 23% of the available storage space on their devices. "In addition to making material misrepresentations and omissions to prospective purchasers of devices with iOS 8 pre-installed, Apple also makes misrepresentations and omissions to owners of devices with predecessor operating systems," the complaintents said in the written affidavit for the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status for others who purchased 16GB devices.
"These misrepresentations and omissions cause these consumers to 'upgrade' their Devices from iOS 7 (or other operating systems) to iOS 8," Orshan and Endara say. "Apple fails to disclose that upgrading from iOS 7 to iOS 8 will cost a Device user between 600 MB and 1.3 GB of storage space - a result that no consumer could reasonably anticipate."
The lawsuit continues to accuse Apple of using this to their advantage by aggressively marketing its iCloud storage system. Apple charges customers a monthly fee for using the iCloud features.
"Using these sharp business tactics, Defendant gives less storage capacity than advertised, only to offer to sell that capacity in a desperate moment, e.g., when a consumer is trying to record or take photos at a child or grandchild's recital, basketball game or wedding," the lawsuit contends. "To put this in context, each gigabyte of storage Apple shortchanges its customers amounts to approximately 400-500 high resolution photographs."
But this isn't the first time that storage has been an issue for Apple. In 2007, the company won a legal fight over storage space available on the 8GB iPod Nano. On the Nano, users found they only had 7.45GB of space marking just a 7.5% difference.
Apple has declined to comment on the allegations, so for now users will just have to live with the storage limitation.
