Apple is being sued over the crackling and static sounds and other audio quality issues plaguing its very first AirPods Pro model, released in 2019 and sold through September 2022.
Shortly after the first AirPods Pro units arrived, early adopters flocked to social media to complain about static sounds, crackling, rattling, and popping—exacerbated when walking or running, sometimes causing loss of bass and increased environmental noise.
“The functionality of audio components is a material and essential feature of any headphones,” reads a 51-page complaint titled LaBella et al v. Apple. “High-end, high-priced headphones like Apple’s AirPods Pro Gen 1, which Apple advertised as having noise canceling features and superior sound compared to other headphones, would have consistently functioning, high-quality audio,” it adds.
The complaint targets not only Apple’s decision to continue selling the earbuds despite being aware of the problems but also the fact it falsely advertised “superior sound quality” and “pure, incredibly clear sound.”
Apple’s marketing misled would-be customers, many of whom were unaware of the crackling sound and static, which the plaintiffs claim amounts to false advertising. The argument goes that people would have avoided buying the earbuds had they been aware of the problems or considered flawed ones at a discount had Apple offered such an option.
“The AirPods Pro Gen 1 were thus not worth the premium price that consumers paid for them—as they contained an Audio Defect and did not live up to Apple’s advertising, which promised quality audio and noise canceling capabilities,” the lawsuit alleges.
The plaintiffs are seeking relief and monetary damages. In addition, they would like Apple to replace all defective units at no charge. Should the court decide the case deserves class action certification and Apple is ultimately found guilty, all AirPods Pro owners in the United States could eventually receive a tiny slice of the damages in the form of an Apple gift card, redeemable toward future purchases from the company.
Don’t you think for a second Apple wasn’t well-aware of the issues. At first, it tried to fix the glitches with emergency firmware updates. But the crackling and statis sounds persisted, so it quickly became evident the problem was rooted in hardware. The company eventually relented and announced the AirPods Pro Service Program for Sound Issues in October 2020.
It acknowledges that “a small percentage” of AirPods Pro units manufactured before October 2020 may experience sound problems. However, the plaintiffs claim all AirPods Pro units are affected regardless of their manufacturing date. Furthermore, they accuse the company of refusing to even notify owners about the existence of the service program. As a result, many affected owners could not make use of it.
At least Apple admitted that the problems ranged from “crackling or static sounds that increase in loud environments, with exercise or while talking on the phone” to active noise cancelation “not working as expected, such as a loss of bass sound, or an increase in background sounds, such as street or airplane noise. A year later, Apple silently extended the service program for an additional year and updated the fine print to state that the program “covers affected AirPods Pro for 3 years after the first retail sale of the unit.”
Anyone suffering from said issues could bring their AirPods Pro to Apple to have the earbuds fixed or replaced for free. But as it turned out, many people had the exact same issue with replacements, which suggested there was something fundamentally wrong with all units instead of being isolated to a subset of earbuds manufactured in a specific timeframe.
The second-generation AirPods Pro model succeeded the inaugural AirPods Pro (2022). A refreshed AirPods Pro version (2023) brought USB-C charging, improved IP54 dust resistance, and an updated H2 chip. The current AirPods Pro 2 with hearing health features dropped in September 2024. The static and crackling audio did not affect any subsequent models released after the first AirPods Pro.
I hope the plaintiffs will prevail and Apple compensates AirPods Pro owners. I had the same issue with my first AirPods Pro, preventing me from calling anyone without hearing a litany of complaints about crackling audio.
In previous years, Apple issued a bunch of service programs to address hardware defects. Recently, it unveiled one for a hardware issue plaguing “a very small percentage” of iPhone 14 Plus devices where the rear camera shows no preview in the Camera app.
Source: Classaction.org
