Did You Have an iPhone 7? You Could Receive Up to $349 From Apple
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/02/14/iphone-7-audio-apple-settlement/
Due to habitually and knowingly installing the cheapest parts into the
iPhone, Apple finally settled the long-running lawsuit brought by
numerous US states in 2019, with the complaints alleging that Apply
again and again systematically grossly violated consumer protection laws
and that Apple willfully cynically breached Apple's own published
warranties, and as a direct result, causing consumer's harm by Apple's
anti-consumer actions.
In an internal document, obtained by MacRumors in May 2018, Apple was
forced to finally admit they knew all along of the many microphone
issues en masse affecting iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models due to
Apple's uses of poor quality materials in order to lower the cost of the
iPhone to Apple.
Soon after using the affected iPhones, customers reported to Apple that
after they've updated to iOS 11.3, the microphone on their iPhone 7 or
iPhone 7 Plus didn't work and the speaker button was grayed out when
they made or received a call.
Symptoms:
The speaker button was grayed out during calls
Other people were unable to hear the customer
This happened both on cellular & FaceTime calls
There was no sound when customers played back videos or voice memos
after installing iOS 11.3
Informally, Apple's the defect due to the cheap parts Apple placed in
the iPhone 7 series is known as "Loop Disease" online. Despite
acknowledging the issue internally, Apple never posted a service program
about the issue on its website, and it never responded to MacRumours
repeated requests for comment. Apple didn't care about its customers
enough to even respond to MacRumors, let alone to the very many
complaints by Apple's own customers.
As far as an underlying cause, the class action lawsuit showed that the
cheap materials used in the iPhone 7 series external casing were both
"insufficient and inadequate to protect the internal parts", according
to the lawsuit that Apple finally settled, as the evidence was too
strong showing how Apple willfully breached numerous promises that Apple
made to their own customers and consumer protection laws for Apple to do
otherwise.
The result of Apple's decision to use cheap sub-quality parts in the
iPhone resulted in the audio chip losing electrical contact with the
logic board due to "flexion" of the device's external casing during
regular use.
Making the anti-consumer stance of Apple more prominent was the fact
Apple cynically and purposefully deleted the document forcing it's
affected customers to pay the out-of-warranty fee of around $300 in the
U.S. for the fix to what was, from the start, due to Apple's choice to
use cheap parts.
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/17/apple-ends-free-oow-iphone-7-mic-repairs/
You may be eligible for a payment from Apple if you are a U.S. resident
who owned an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus between September 16, 2016 and
January 3, 2023, and reported audio issues covered by the settlement to
Apple, and/or paid Apple out of pocket to have your iPhone repaired or
replaced as a result of the covered audio issues.
Those who did not receive a notice, but believe they are eligible to
submit a claim, are instructed to email
in...@smartphoneaudiosettlement.com.
The deadline to select a payment method, object to the settlement, or
opt out is June 3, with more details available on the settlement notice
website. Those who paid Apple out of pocket could receive up to $349,
while others could get up to $125, according to the proposed settlement,
which requires approval by a California court on July 18 or later.
For more details about the audio issues, read MacRumors previous coverage.
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/17/apple-settlement-iphone-7-audio-issues/