Apple has been hit with a federal lawsuit claiming that the company's promotion of now-delayed Apple Intelligence features constituted false advertising and unfair competition.

Why it matters: The suit is the latest fallout from the company's acknowledgment that key features, including an enhanced Siri, won't ship until far later than originally planned.

Driving the news: The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, seeks class action status and unspecified financial damages on behalf of those who purchased Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones and other devices.

What they're saying: "Apple's advertisements saturated the internet, television, and other airwaves to cultivate a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that these transformative features would be available upon the iPhone's release," the suit reads.

"This drove unprecedented excitement in the market, even for Apple, as the company knew it would, and as part of Apple's ongoing effort to convince consumers to upgrade at a premium price and to distinguish itself from competitors deemed to be winning the AI-arms race."
"Contrary to Defendant's claims of advanced AI capabilities, the Products offered a significantly limited or entirely absent version of Apple Intelligence, misleading consumers about its actual utility and performance. Worse yet, Defendant promoted its Products based on these overstated AI capabilities, leading consumers to believe they were purchasing a device with features that did not exist or were materially misrepresented."
An Apple representative was not immediately available for comment.
Zoom in: The suit specifically highlights an ad from September featuring actor Bella Ramsey touting Siri capabilities that are now delayed.

The suit notes that Apple recently pulled that ad off YouTube, but says: "Still, it has failed to retract all the similarly false representations in the market that began in the Summer of 2024, much less take any action that would adequately remedy the consumers harmed by the company's widespread deception."
Between the lines: The suit was filed by the Clarkson Law Firm, which has also sued Google and OpenAI over their AI practices.

In this case, though, Clarkson is suing over AI features that didn't ship, rather than those that did.