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Lawsuit Claiming Apple Watch Shows ‘Racial Bias’ Tossed

The tech giant said the plaintiff failed to make any allegations supporting a claim of fraud.

A judge on Monday dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit that claimed the blood oxygen sensor on Apple Watches shows “racial bias” against people who have darker skin tones. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan dismissed the suit with prejudice, meaning it can’t be brought again in the future. Alex Morales, the plaintiff, argued that he’d paid an inflated price for an Apple Watch on the mistaken belief that the device’s blood oxygen app would calculate blood oxygen levels “without regard to skin tone.” An amended complaint filed in May cited reports about other pulse oximetry devices being “significantly” less accurate in determining the blood oxygen levels in people who aren’t white. Apple argued that Morales failed to show that he had been misled before making his purchase or make any allegations supporting his claim of fraud.