Apple Retracts Claim That Apple Watch Sport Is “Impact Resistant”

After a U.K. man filed—and won—a suit against Apple, the tech giant has removed the “impact resistant” characterization found in the Apple Watch Sport‘s description.

Gareth Cross of Wales sued Apple when he found, 10 days after purchasing an Apple Watch Sport, that the device had a crack in its screen. Apple declined to fix the watch under warranty—and so, Cross took the issue to court. Part of the reason he opted for the hardier sports version of the Apple Watch was, he said, because the descriptor deemed it impact resistant; Cross told the BBC he is often clumsy and “prone to knocking things about a bit.”

The crack was particularly surprising, Cross said, because he had not been very active since buying the watch. “I hadn’t even been doing anything strenuous, just sitting around watching TV,” he said. “When I got to work the hairline crack had got bigger and bigger so I called Apple up to get it repaired.”

When Apple said it would not fix the watch, Cross sued and ultimately spent six months in a small claims court hashing things out with the company. The court ruled in favor of Cross, and Apple removed the phrase “impact resistant” from the product’s spec descriptions so as to not mislead other customers; Apple refunded the watch and also paid Cross an additional $625. At the time of writing, the landing page for the Apple Watch Sport still says the watch display is “especially resistant to scratches and impact.”

Cross told the BBC he “couldn’t understand” why Apple wanted to go to court, and that he was intimidated to go up against the tech juggernaut. “The case did start to become a little stressful, especially toward the end with the prospect of having to attend court to defend my claim against what was the most valuable company in the world,” he said.

Apple’s next product event will likely take place on March 15, when the company may introduce updates to the Apple Watch, as well as a new four-inch iPhone.

[via 9to5Mac]