Apple loses UK lawsuit after refusing to repair cracked Apple Watch display

Apple Watch Sport limited edition models — Apple loses UK lawsuit after refusing to repair cracked Apple Watch display Apple

An Apple Watch fan from Aberystwyth in Wales has finally won a six-month-old court case, after the company refused to repair his watch, which had a cracked display, under the claims of hardware warranty. Gareth Cross sued the iPhone maker for an alleged breach of the UK's Sale of Goods Act, accusing Apple of falsely advertising the product as "impact resistant".

The plaintiff had reportedly purchased the Sports variant of Apple Watch in July 2015 and discovered an unexpected crack on the display just 10 days later. After establishing that the crack was indeed developed by some sort of accidental damage due to impact, Apple refused to accept his claim for repairing the watch under warranty.

Apple had arrived at this conclusion after viewing the photos that Cross had sent them as evidence of the problem on the affected device.

Check out the actual screenshots depicting the cracked display of the affected Apple Watch in the recent DailyMail report.

Consequently, Cross decided to settle this dispute at a small claims court asserting that Apple had misled him with their false advertising, wherein the Apple Watch display is touted as using the same impact resistant material found on space shuttles and high-speed trains.

Here is what Cross told DailyMail regarding the incident:

I bought my wife Rachel the regular Apple Watch, but I went for the Sport version because I am prone to knocking things about a bit and it said it was impact resistant. But I noticed a tiny 4-5 mm crack on the screen just 10 days after buying it – I hadn't even been doing anything strenuous, just sitting around watching TV. When I got to work the hairline crack had got bigger and bigger so I called Apple up to get it repaired.

It is not yet clear if the extent of damage could be covered under Impact Resistant or Impact Proof claims as Apple has nowhere guaranteed that the glass on the display will not break. Nevertheless, the court has ruled in favour of the user. The company has been ordered to refund the cost of the watch and £429 to cover the cost of the incurred legal fees in fighting the case against Apple.

It seems Cross has got more than what he bargained for when he bought the £339 worth sports watch from Apple. The company has since removed all claims pointing to the impact-resistant capability from its watch's description on its online store.

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