Nobody in America cares about pixel loss caused by iPhone notch, says judge

A class action suit launched in December accused Apple of making fraudulent claims about the size and pixel count of its OLED displays. The argument is, quite literally, about cut corners. The suit was launched by plaintiffs Christian Sponchiado and Courtney Davis.

The suit asserts fraud because Apple misrepresents the screen size of the iPhone. The allegation points out that Apple fails to factor in the rounded corners in the diagonal measurement of the screen, as well as the notch.

It also claims that Apple has overstated the pixel count to mislead consumers about the screen quality.

U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr, however, is skeptical. "There doesn't really seem to be anyone in America who seems to be concerned about it," he said, according to Law360. Judge Gilliam still thinks Apple's disclosure defeats allegations of fraud and unjust enrichment.

Apple's legal counsel, Tiffany Cheung of Morrison & Foerster LLP, argued that the screen size claims are defeated by multiple disclosures on the packaging of the iPhones in question. She went on to state that the plaintiffs allege Apple is miscounting subpixels, though Apple makes no representation about subpixels in its marketing.

C.K. Lee of Lee Litigation Group PLLC, representing the plaintiffs, argued that Apple could have told consumers the advertised pixel count is "not true pixels," which would reduce the overall resolution.

Judge Gilliam remained skeptical, and believes that other judges have set precedent barring the plaintiffs from asserting class consumer protection. However, he said that he would take the arguments under submission.

The suit accuses Apple of being misleading about the screen size of the iPhone X, declared as 5.8 inches. According to the filing, the screen is actually "only about 5.6875 inches," and takes issue with the 5.8-inch measurement "pretending that the screen does not have rounded corners."

Shortly after this declaration, the suit claims an image proves "the phones themselves display their false diagonal screen sizes," with the Compare iPhone page of the Apple website shown on the iPhone X's screen. Also shown in the photograph alongside the screen size is an asterisk, indicating further detail is available down the page explaining how the measurement takes into account the corners.

The suit calls for an injunction against the offending practices, plus damage payments directed to everyone participating in the class action.