When a smartphone stops working properly after a software update, where does the responsibility lie: with the device owner, the network, the hardware maker or the company that wrote the code?
That question is at the centre of an escalating investigation into Apple in India, where the country’s consumer protection authority is examining complaints that the iOS 18 update was followed by display, microphone and other problems that left some users facing costly repairs.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) escalated the matter to its investigation wing on July 29 for a detailed probe, according to documents reviewed by Impact Newswire. The regulator is examining whether Apple’s software warranty terms and its handling of affected consumers could violate Indian consumer protection rules.
The investigation does not establish that iOS 18 caused the reported failures, nor has the regulator reached a final finding against Apple. Apple has disputed the allegations, saying it found no systemic issues or safety concerns with iOS 18 in India.
But the case raises a broader issue for an industry in which smartphones increasingly behave less like finished products and more like continuously changing software platforms.
A phone can leave a factory functioning normally and, months later, receive an update that changes the software controlling its display, microphone, camera, battery management and communications. That creates a difficult consumer question: if the software changes the behaviour of hardware that consumers already own, should the software provider’s liability be treated differently from that of a traditional hardware manufacturer?
The CCPA’s investigation follows complaints from iPhone users who said problems emerged after installing iOS 18, which began rolling out in September 2024.
The complaints cited by Indian authorities include green, pink or white lines appearing on displays, microphone malfunctions and other functional problems. Some consumers said they were subsequently asked to pay for display replacements and other repairs. Reuters reported that documents put the estimated cost of replacing an iPhone 15 display at about 27,900 rupees ($291).
The consumer watchdog has framed the issue more broadly than a dispute between individual customers and Apple, alleging potential harm to consumers as a class.
That distinction matters. A defective component traditionally has a relatively clear chain of responsibility. Software is different. An update can interact with thousands of hardware configurations, third-party applications, cellular networks and earlier versions of operating systems, making causation considerably harder to establish.
A survey by Indian consumer advocacy organisation LocalCircles has added to the pressure. Its January 2025 survey of more than 31,000 consumers found that around six in 10 iPhone users who had upgraded to iOS 18 or later reported multiple problems. Its more recent survey, covering more than 47,000 responses across 274 Indian districts, found that about 66% of iPhone 12, 13 and 14 users who had upgraded reported difficulties.
Those surveys, however, do not prove that iOS 18 caused the problems. In the latest survey, only about half of respondents experiencing difficulties attributed them to iOS, while roughly 31% blamed their mobile network, according to Mint’s account of the findings.
That distinction could be important to the regulator’s eventual assessment.
Apple has pushed back against the allegations. In its Aug. 20 response to investigators, the company said it had not identified any systemic issues or safety concerns with iOS 18 in India. Apple also argued that its software warranty terms are consistent with industry practice and that users are informed of those terms before installing software.
Apple said the CCPA’s case was based on 75 complaints and noted that only about 11% of iPhones were still running iOS 18 by June 2026.
The company has also defended its distinction between hardware and software warranties.
“A requirement that every issue … be treated as a breach of an absolute warranty would effectively convert any software provider into an insurer against all technological risk,” Apple said in its response.
The argument goes to the heart of the dispute. Software is inherently subject to bugs, compatibility problems and interactions with changing hardware and networks. If every malfunction following an update automatically became a manufacturer’s warranty obligation, technology companies could face potentially open-ended liability.
But consumer regulators face the opposite question: whether a company can avoid responsibility simply by defining software as something that comes “without warranty” when the software is supplied by the manufacturer and is designed to control a device consumers have already purchased.
For India, the case could become an important test of how consumer law applies to software-dependent products.
Consumer lawyer Kirti Mahapatra says that where warranty or contractual terms form part of an alleged unfair practice, the CCPA can require a company to provide accurate information to consumers and can seek changes to such terms. She said requiring such changes would be unprecedented.
The regulator could ultimately seek penalties, refunds or changes to business practices if it finds violations, although no such finding has yet been made.
The dispute also arrives at a significant moment for Apple in India.
The company has been increasing its manufacturing footprint in the country and expanding its retail presence. Apple’s share of India’s smartphone market reached about 9% in 2025, up from 4% in 2022, according to Counterpoint Research cited by Indian media.
That growth gives the iOS 18 case significance beyond the immediate repair bills.
India is becoming an increasingly important manufacturing and consumer market for Apple at the same time that its regulators are asserting greater scrutiny over how global technology companies operate there. Apple is separately contesting an Indian antitrust investigation into its App Store business, showing that its regulatory exposure in the country extends beyond consumer complaints. In June, Apple accused India’s antitrust regulator of “copy-pasting” rivals’ claims, an allegation the regulator has not accepted.
The deeper issue exposed by the iOS 18 dispute is that the traditional boundary between a product and a service is disappearing.
A television, car or phone once arrived largely as a finished object. Increasingly, the physical device is only the platform. Its capabilities can be altered remotely by code written by a company thousands of kilometres away.
That changes the economics of ownership.
A consumer may have paid for the hardware, but the manufacturer retains significant control over the software that determines how that hardware functions. An update can introduce new features, remove old ones, change performance characteristics or, in some cases, trigger incompatibilities.
The result is a new form of technological dependency: ownership of the physical object does not necessarily mean ownership of its functional state.
That makes software warranties more consequential than they might appear.
If regulators ultimately conclude that a manufacturer can be responsible when its own update causes a material malfunction, the implications could extend well beyond Apple. Smartphones, connected cars, medical devices, computers and household appliances increasingly depend on remotely delivered software.
Conversely, if companies remain broadly insulated from liability for software-related failures, consumers may bear more of the financial risk associated with products that manufacturers continue to modify after sale.
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Mohd Hassan has extensive experience in news gathering, editing, and writing for the newswire industry, Contact – Info@impactnews-wire.com
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