Apple hit with another faulty hardware lawsuit – this time it's the Watch Apple has been hit by another lawsuit claiming faulty manufacturing, this time over its Apple Watch. Kenneth Sciacca from Colorado has sued the tech giant in its home state of California claiming that Apple was aware of an issue in all the generations of its smart watch that can cause its screen to crack or detach, through no …
Between one with a cracked screen due to swollen battery (as the swollen battery is evidence) and one with a cracked screen but no evidence of a swollen battery.
Sounds like Apple is doing the right thing here by extending the warranty to cover a problem that was found, and he's saying they need to do more. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, but I'd be surprised if it is easier for a swollen battery to crack the screen than it is for it to make the screen or the back pop off...
Had an original Apple Watch that exhibited this issue. The screen clean popped off and underneath was an extremely swollen battery.
When I went in to the store with the watch, they didn't quibble whatsoever. They immediately saw the issue, said they'd replace it and sent the replacement by courier to my home. The original series 0 watch was replaced with a series 1 - so to their credit, they replaced it with a faster and shiny new device. I can only say they acted reasonably, given that it was well and truly out of its warranty period. I wonder if other manufacturers would have given a replacement in similar circumstances.
My only concern is what happens if it does it again. I only hope they'll do similar with newer generations - so if this action forces them to widen the remit of the replacement scheme, I'm all for it.
It's a common problem with the Moto 360 range as well.
Life as a battery in a smart watch is not a pleasant thing - a fairly full-on daily duty cycle with occasional deep discharges, a constantly warm environment (especially with wireless charging), and relatively high current usage compared to capacity (>1C) all contribute to short overall life spans on early generation smart watch batteries.
On the plus side, if they engineered them appropriately, you could argue that spontaneous disassembly when you need a new battery is a handy feature! Sure saves all that heating, unclipping, etc.
My three+ year old Moto 360 is on its third battery. Motorola has given up making them.
and relatively high current usage compared to capacity (>1C)
Do you wish to rephrase that?
1C is the current which discharges the battery in one hour. It also happens to be the way the battery capacity is defined (the rate at which it can be discharged for 1 hour). If the Apple watch discharges the battery at a little greater than 1C that is not a high current, since the battery rating is measured at that current. 10C would be a high current. Depending on the internals, even 5C might be a high current. What it does mean, if correct, is that the watch has to be charged more than once an hour.
I'll ask again: do you wish to rephrase that?
For a watch that is designed to discharge over 10 to 16 hours, 1C IS a high rate of discharge - so the original premise is wrong as I doubt that there are any apps or conditions under which a watch will discharge in an hour.
A phone or laptop can discharge at 1C while playing a game, but it gets extremely hot doing so.
For a power tool or a Dyson Vacuum which is designed to chug through the entire battery capacity in about 6 minutes, 10C is considered a nominal discharge rate.
So, what is high or not depends on the design and application of the battery. For a watch, 1C is definitely a high discharge rate.
"Apple hit with another faulty hardware lawsuit – this time it's the Watch"
The underlying issue there is Apple's lack of sufficient quality control and testing and that applies to both hardware and software. That needs to be significantly improved and it's not as if Apple can't afford to do these things.
My Series 3 42mm was on the charger a couple of nights ago, when taken off to wear the screen had cracked all the way round and had popped clear. The battery looked like a small pillow and the watch was red hot. Sent to Apple for repair but they refuse to dos as the screen crack means I must have dropped it!
It could not have had better care and had never been dropped in its six month life! Apple wouldn't speculate as to why the battery was mis-shapen.
I have decided to take the to the Small Claims Court here in the UK, a cheap and pretty painless procedure, but a huge inconvenience for them. I would urge everyone else to do similar, only then will things be fixed.
My partner has just had the same issue. Apple refuse to repair it saying it's out of warranty although only 3 months old. It was kept in immaculate condition but they said you must have dropped it and caused the impact. They know this is a common issue but refuse to refund or repair so I have requested a refund via my credit card but don't know if it will be successful. I would also like to take this further but have never done it before. Please keep us updated on how your claim goes and I will try and do one too.
The audacity of Apple has really annoyed me this time. The watches should be robust enough to wear without them exploding. The appalling customer services in the store was the cherry on the cake. They told bare faced lies and expected us to be gullible enough to believe them.
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