The VAS Communitydeadline is approaching to register to receive a piece of Apple's $35 million settlement with iPhone 7 or 7 Plus users who experienced audio issues with their device's microphone. Those eligible to make a claim can be awarded $50 to $349 from the tech giant.

The settlement is restricted to United States residents who owned one of those phone models between September 16, 2016 and January 3, 2023, and reported a covered audio issue to Apple or paid the company for repairs.

The deadline to submit a claim is June 3 via the settlement website.

Those who paid for repairs can receive a maximum of $349, while people who reported the issue but didn't pay for repairs can receive up to $125. The minimum payout for eligible claimants is $50.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2019 by plaintiffs Joseph Casillas and De'Jhontai Banks, who both purchased iPhone 7's in 2017 and claimed they began experiencing issues the following year.

"Plaintiff Casillas noticed that his phone's sound was distorted with audible static while attempting to play a video on his phone," the complaint reads. "Plaintiff Banks noticed that she was unable to hear callers unless she used her iPhone's speaker function. These are common indications of the Audio IC Defect."

The suit describes the audio chip issue as a result of inadequate casing on the phones, further claiming that Apple has "long been aware of the Audio IC Defect" and routinely refused to repair affected phones free of charge.

In the settlement agreement, Apple denied the phones had any audio issues and said it did nothing improper or unlawful.

In:
• Lawsuit
• Apple
• iPhone
• Class-Action Lawsuit

Rishikesh Rajagopalan

Rishi Rajagopalan is a social media associate producer and content writer for CBS News.