Apple is being sued for misrepresenting how much storage iOS 8 takes up on devices after it was rolled out in September.
Two iPhone users, Paul Orshan and Christopher Endara, filed a class action lawsuit against the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant, according to documents uploaded earlier this week.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs “[challenge] storage capacity misrepresentations and omissions relating to use of Apple’s iOS 8 operating system. As set forth in greater detail below, iOS 8 uses an unexpectedly large percentage of the storage capacity on 8 GB and 16 GB iPhones, iPads and iPods.”
Apple, the complaint added, failed to tell users that as much as 23.1 percent of advertised storage capacity on the devices would be used by iOS 8 when it was made available for download.
When Apple released the latest mobile operating system, there was a bevy of complaints on social media about how much space the software took up on their respective devices. Users then said they were forced to delete apps, photos, and audio files to free up space.
These customers did “not expect this marked discrepancy between the advertised level of capacity and the available capacity,” the suit is alleging. Making matters worse, the suit implies that Apple was trying to get more users to purchase subscriptions for its iCloud service by making iOS 8 take up more storage.
Apple used “sharp business tactics” in giving “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 plaintiffs said. “To put this in context, each gigabyte of storage Apple shortchanges its customers amounts to approximately 400-500 high resolution photographs.”
Apple has not responded to the lawsuit. It was filed on Tuesday in California.