- Apple faces a federal lawsuit for false advertising after delaying its AI features.
- The enhanced, more personal Siri was heavily promoted with the iPhone 16 but is still unavailable.
- The lawsuit seeks refunds, compensation, and a court order to prevent Apple from making misleading claims.
Apple is now facing a federal lawsuit over false advertising as it continues to delay some of its Apple Intelligence features. This includes an upgraded Siri, which was first announced with iOS 18 and the iPhone 16 series in September 2024. However, with no sign of these features months later, frustrated users have taken legal action.
Table of Contents
Apple Intelligence Rollout: What Went Wrong
Apple introduced several AI-powered features with iOS 18, including a smarter and more personalized Siri with better contextual understanding. However, these features were not ready at launch and are still missing.
Recently, Apple admitted that some of these features, including the improved Siri, might not arrive on supported iPhones until 2026. The delays are reportedly due to challenges in making Siri’s on-device AI handle complex queries efficiently, requiring more processing power and better language models.
Why the Lawsuit?
The lawsuit alleges that Apple misled consumers by hyping up Apple Intelligence as a key selling point for the iPhone 16 series, even though the features were not available at launch and still have no clear release date. It also claims that Apple created massive hype, convincing millions of users to upgrade when they didn’t actually need to.
The logic makes sense: if I buy a phone today based on a promised feature, only to find out it won’t arrive until the next generation, I might as well have waited and upgraded directly to that one instead.
Right now, Siri has only received minor tweaks, like the ChatGPT integration, which lets it pull answers from OpenAI’s knowledge base. However, the more advanced features, such as remembering past interactions and performing complex cross-app actions, are still nowhere to be found.
Details of the Apple Intelligence Lawsuit
The lawsuit was filed on March 19, 2025, in the U.S. District Court in San Jose. It was brought by Peter Landsheft, a California resident who bought an iPhone 16 Pro Max in October 2024. He is represented by Clarkson Law Firm and is suing Apple for false advertising.
Landsheft claims Apple heavily promoted Apple Intelligence as a key selling point of the iPhone 16 series, even though the features were never available. The lawsuit argues Apple misled buyers, creating massive consumer excitement for something that “did not exist then and does not exist now.”
Apple ran ads across TV, online platforms, and social media, pushing features like an upgraded Siri that could recall past interactions and perform advanced actions across apps. However, these features remain missing, and Apple has now postponed them until 2026.
One ad, featuring actress Bella Ramsey in September 2024, shows Siri quickly remembering someone’s name from a past meeting, as if it’s pulling info from your calendar, emails, and messages. The lawsuit claims this ad misled people, pointing out that Siri can’t actually do that kind of smart, personal remembering at the moment.
Apple quietly removed the ad from YouTube on March 7, 2025, after confirming the delay. However, the lawsuit claims Apple failed to pull all misleading ads, allowing false marketing to continue for months.
Who Is Affected by the Lawsuit?
The lawsuit represents buyers of the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max, and the newly launched iPhone 16e. If you’re in the US and have bought any of these models, you might benefit if the case goes in favor of consumers—potentially in the form of compensation, though that’s just speculation.
Apple is accused of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of contract. The lawsuit also claims Apple violated California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, and Consumers Legal Remedies Act, along with additional accusations of breach of implied warranty and unjust enrichment.
The lawsuit seeks compensation, refunds, and a court order preventing Apple from misleading consumers. It also calls for a corrective advertising campaign to set the record straight.
What This Means for Apple?
Apple marketed Apple Intelligence as a game-changer for the iPhone 16 series, but nearly six months later, key features are still missing. The company likely rushed these announcements to keep up with competition, as Samsung doubled down on Galaxy AI and Google expanded its AI ecosystem with Gemini.
Now, with a federal lawsuit underway, Apple could face serious legal consequences for promoting features that were never delivered. This case might also push tech companies to be more transparent about future software updates, so buyers are not left paying for promises that never materialize.
