Apple Inc. is now the target of a proposed securities-fraud class action accusing the company of exaggerating how quickly its “Apple Intelligence” suite and a radically revamped Siri would reach customers.
According to Reuters, the 72-page complaint, filed late Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (case No. 25-05197), alleges Apple’s keynote at WWDC 2024 and subsequent press interviews created “unrealistic expectations” that on-device generative-AI features would debut with the iPhone 16 this autumn.
Lead plaintiff Eric Tucker says Apple never had a working prototype of the upgraded Siri and therefore “could not reasonably expect” to ship the technology on schedule. Chief executive Tim Cook, current CFO Kevan Parekh, and former CFO Luca Maestri are named as individual defendants.
Shareholders Say AI Hype Masked Delays
According to the suit, Apple’s June 2024 presentation framed Apple Intelligence as a “day-one” selling point for the iPhone 16 lineup. However, on March 7, 2025, the company quietly postponed the most ambitious Siri capabilities to 2026, referring to the change as a “phased rollout.” Investors say that disclosure, followed by a muted WWDC 2025 that offered only incremental AI enhancements, exposed a “slow drip of truth” about Apple’s actual progress.
The fallout has been steep. Apple shares have slid almost 25 percent from their December 26, 2024, record close, erasing roughly $900 billion in market value, losses the plaintiffs attribute to inflated expectations around Apple Intelligence. The proposed class covers anyone who purchased Apple stock between June 10, 2024, and June 9, 2025, a period the complaint claims was clouded by “knowing or reckless” omissions.
In court filings, Tucker’s lawyers cite analyst notes, media commentary, and blogger John Gruber’s “Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino” essay, which labeled the WWDC demo “vaporware.” They also point to Apple’s March delay notice and the absence of fresh Siri milestones at WWDC 2025 as proof that executives were aware of significant engineering roadblocks yet withheld that information. Apple’s internal code-name for the stalled Siri core, “Project Lagniappe,” is mentioned repeatedly to argue that the company recognized development risk.
Apple has not publicly responded to the suit, but senior vice-president Craig Federighi told the Wall Street Journal last week that “Apple Intelligence remains on track” and that the Siri overhaul “isn’t vaporware but a multi-year rollout.” The company has likewise rejected earlier consumer-fraud allegations that it oversold Apple Intelligence to customers.
Legal experts say the shareholders face a high bar: they must prove Apple knew the roadmap was impossible yet chose to mislead. Still, the case deepens scrutiny just as Google, Samsung, and Microsoft seek to position their own devices as AI-first. “Investors are hypersensitive to AI timelines,” notes Columbia Law School’s John Coffee. “If Apple oversold here, the damages could eclipse the lithium-ion battery antitrust case that cost it $310 million in 2022.”
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified compensatory damages, a jury trial, and enhanced governance measures requiring more detailed AI progress disclosures in future investor communications. Judge Beth Labson Freeman has given Apple until August 26 to file its initial response; a scheduling conference is set for October.
If the case survives Apple’s expected motion to dismiss, discovery could expose rare internal details about Cupertino’s most secretive AI projects, an outcome that both investors and rivals will watch closely.