Apple is being sued in the US for allegedly misleading consumers about how much storage capacity its iOS 8 requires when installed on iPhones, iPads and iPods.

The complaint filed in California and Florida claims Apple failed to disclose that iOS 8 would reduce the amount of usable memory on its devices and alleges that the operating system takes up so much space that far less is available for storage.

SeekingAlpha’s Forward Looking Guru said yesterday that while the legal action was “frivolous”, even if Apple is found guilty, Microsoft and Samsung are far more likely to be negatively affected. “It is a bit ironic this lawsuit is being filed against Apple, since the amount of usable storage on a 16GB iPhone, approximately 13GB, is significantly higher than most, if not all of Apple’s competitors’ 16GB smartphones.”

The post went on to say that at worst Apple would be “guilty of not providing full disclosure in big bold letters on its packaging about how updates to the operating system affect storage capacity”.

Apple’s website clearly states the usable storage capacity of its devices after being formatted will be less than the stated capacity.

The latest update to iOS 8 was released in late September, but Apple was forced to pull it after users complained that it stopped their iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models from connecting to their mobile network. Apple claim only 40,000 user were affected and issued a public apology.