Apple customers who suffered audio issues with their iPhone 7 or 7 Plus have little more than a week to file a claim for $349 cash, thanks to a class-action settlement.
A 2019 lawsuit filed in the US District Court for northern California charged that faulty ‘audio IC’ chips in these models of the phone led to pervasive audio issues with calls, Siri, the Voice Memos app, internal microphone fidelity, and more.
Apple’s third-party repair professionals called it ‘Loop Disease‘ as this set of recurring problems emerged with phones sold between early 2017 and late 2018.
While qualifying iPhone customers included in the settlement might have already received a postcard or email notification about their fair share of the $35 million award — the winning legal team has also posted an informational site.
Here’s what you need to know, to find out if you qualify and how to get paid.
A 2019 lawsuit filed in the US District Court for northern California charged that faulty audio IC chips in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus led to pervasive audio issues with calls, Siri, the Voice Memos app, microphone fidelity and more. Apple settled for $35 million but admitted no wrongdoing
Apple customers who suffered audio issues with their iPhone 7 or 7 Plus have little more than a week to file a claim for $349 cash, thanks to a class-action settlement. The June 3, 2024 deadline to file a claim is also the deadline to file objections to rejected claims
The June 3, 2024 deadline to file a claim, according to the settlement information site, is also the deadline to file objections to rejected claims — which means that iPhone 7 and 7 Plus customers who worry about being edge cases should file early.
Apple customers, who live in the United States and purchased an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus between September 16, 2016 and January 3, 2023 might qualify, if they reported audio issues with the phone to Apple and/or paid Apple for replacements or repairs.
To apply for a claim, iPhone 7 or 7 Plus owners will have to download, print out and mail in a settlement ‘payment attestation form‘ by June 3.
Qualified claimants are likely to receive a minimum of $50 and as much as $349 depending on the level of repairs or replacements that they personally had previously paid to Apple over their audio issues with their iPhone 7 or 7 Plus.
Above, Apple’s iPhone 7 close to when the device debuted in September 2016
Any customer who reported an audio issues, but did not pay Apple for repairs or replacements will qualify for a settlement payment up to $125.
The lawyers for the 2019 suit’s six original plaintiffs, Andrea Gold and Greg Coleman, said they were ‘proud of the nationwide class action settlement that is pending final approval before the court.’
Although Apple has agreed to pay the $35 million settlement, the company has denied any wrongdoing regarding the ‘audio IC’ chip issue in these two models of their best-selling and iconic series of iPhone mobile devices.
But as one customer described their struggles with ‘loop disease’ on the company’s discussion forum: ‘We are so frustrated with Apple and our daughter’s iPhone 7. She cannot hear callers, use FaceTime or Siri, or use her headphones.
‘We finally got a name for the problem – loop disease. Has anyone else had this issue and if so were you able to resolve it?’ the concerned parent asked. ‘Preferably without spending more money.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Apple for comment on the settlement and will update this article, if they reply.
