Apple Watch owners have a new concern A new class action lawsuit claims that Apple was aware of a defect that caused the watch's battery to swell and damage the screen

As reported by Bloomberg, the lawsuit Chris Smith, Cheryl Smith, Karen Smithson, Jason Roush, and Corey Pomroy v Apple Inc was filed Thursday (December 9) in the US District Court for the Northern District of California was filed and covers all purchasers of the first generation (Apple Watch Series 0) through the recently released Apple Watch Series 6 (including, of course, the Apple Watch SE)

The lawsuit specifies that the defect is not related to "normal degradation of the lithium-ion battery" but is actually caused by its placement inside the Apple Watch housing

The lawsuit alleges that Apple was aware of this defect and that "knowing that the battery inside the Watch could suddenly expand, Apple failed to allocate sufficient space inside the Watch for the battery to expand freely without affecting the Watch's screen face The charges allege that "knowing that the battery inside the Watch could suddenly expand, Apple failed to allocate sufficient space inside the Watch to allow the battery to expand freely without affecting the Watch's screen face and/or failed to incorporate protective guards to prevent contact with the Watch's screen face and/or otherwise prevent the Watch's screen face from delaminating, shattering, or cracking

Plaintiffs seek "actual, general, special, incidental, statutory, punitive, and consequential damages" and "all costs attributable to improving or replacing the Apple Watch"

Those who remember how things were back in 2018 will note that this is not the first class action lawsuit in Apple Watch history And in fact, this new lawsuit sounds familiar when compared to previous lawsuits

Kenneth Sciacca of Colorado claimed that all Apple Watches up to and including the Series 3 had a defect that caused "the Watch's screen to crack, shatter, or detach from the body" The lawsuit does not blame the problem on the Apple Watch's battery swelling, but it does mention the problem of swelling, along with Apple's acknowledgment of this problem with the Series 2 watch

And as someone who now has an Apple Watch Series 5 on my wrist, I hope I don't have to think about this too much over the next few days

The lawsuit has been uploaded to Scribd and can be read at