If you have an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus model, the legal system just worked in your favor via a class action lawsuit.
In 2023, Apple agreed to pay $35 million to settle a U.S. class action lawsuit that alleged that both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models were prone to audio issues caused by a defective chip in the handsets. Customers who submitted a claim have begun to be paid this month.
Per 9to5Mac, many claimants are receiving approximately $200, but some have received up to a $349 payment.
The deadline to submit a claim passed last year, so if you are only finding out about this lawsuit now, it is too late to receive a payout.
The lawsuits class is open to any U.S. resident who owned either an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus between September 16, 2016 and January 3, 2023, so long as they reported audio issues covered by the settlement to Apple, and/or paid Apple out of pocket to have their iPhone repaired or replaced as a result of the covered audio issues. Apple later issued a $349 maximum payout to eligible customers to have the reported issues repaired.
Once the issue surfaced, Apple was sued in multiple U.S. states in 2019, the complaints alleging that Apple had violated consumer protection laws and breached warranties. Despite agreeing to a settlement, Apple denied any wrongdoing.
According to an internal document obtained by MacRumors in May 2018, Apple acknowledged a microphone issue affecting some iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models:
“Some customers might report that after they’ve updated to iOS 11.3, the microphone on their iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus doesn’t work and the speaker button is grayed out when they make or receive a call.”
The symptoms included the following issues:
- The speaker button is grayed out during calls
- Other people are unable to hear the customer on cellular or FaceTime calls
- If a customer plays back a video or voice memo that they’ve made after installing iOS 11.3, there is no sound
The defect is informally known as “Loop Disease” online.
As for the hardware failure itself, the lawsuit alleged that “the materials used in the iPhone’s external casing are insufficient and inadequate to protect the internal parts,” eventually resulting in the audio chip losing electrical contact with the logic board due to “flexion” of the device’s external casing during regular use. It’s unknown how many iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus units were affected in total.
Apple initially stated that its service providers could request a “warranty exception” for affected iPhones, which resulted in free repairs for at least some customers. Apple appears to have abruptly ended this exception in July 2018 after Apple deleted the document. Afterwards, some customers had to pay an out-of-warranty fee of around $300 in the U.S. for a fix.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.