In 2023, Apple agreed to pay $35 million to settle a U.S. class action lawsuit alleging that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were prone to audio issues due to a defective chip in the devices, and those who submitted a claim have started to be paid this month.
As reported by 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 lawsuit's class included any U.S. resident who owned 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.
$349 was the maximum payout for those who paid Apple to have the relevant issues repaired.
Apple was sued over the issue in multiple U.S. states in 2019, with the complaints alleging that the company violated consumer protection laws and breached warranties. Despite agreeing to a settlement, Apple denied any wrongdoing.
"Loop Disease"
In 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.
Symptoms:
- 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 far as an underlying cause, the class action 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 unclear how many iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus units were affected in total.
Apple initially said its service providers could request a "warranty exception" for affected iPhones, which resulted in free repairs for at least some customers, but that abruptly ended 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.
