If you didn't know yet, I will tell you now that iPhones have humidity sensors installed in the 3.5 mm audio port, in the 30-pin connector and exactly on the motherboard, the role of these sensors being to tell Apple if the terminal came into contact with water. The sensors are manufactured by 3M, but they degrade not only when they come into contact with water, but also in situations where the terminal is in an area with high humidity. Because of this problem, Apple has refused to honor the warranty for thousands of customers over the years, and many of them have gathered in a lawsuit that Apple is now trying to to end it peaceful way.
Apple is agreeing to pay $53 million to settle a class action accusing the company of failing to honor warranties on iPhones and iPod Touches, according to an agreement obtained today by Wired. According to several lawsuits combined in San Francisco, no matter what the problem, Apple refused to honor warranties if a white indicator tape embedded in the phone near the headphone or charging portals had turned pink or red. However, the tape's maker, 3M, said humidity, and not water contact, could have caused the color to at least turn pink.
53 million dollars would be paid by Apple to several thousand iPhone/iPod Touch owners whose warranty was canceled until 2010 due to the fact that those sensors were triggered. In 2010, Apple changed its iPhone verification policy, requiring employees to open the devices if those sensors were triggered, all to be sure that it refuses to grant the warranty on a valid basis. The problems experienced in the past with the sensors cost the Americans 53 million dollars, a rather large amount even for Apple.
