A class action lawsuit was filed against Google by owners of the original Google Pixel phone. They had claimed that the company had knowingly sold units with defective microphones. Google has now agreed to settle the lawsuit and will thus be providing up to $500 to owners of said defective units.
The settlement is yet to receive the court’s approval but it will see Google paying out up to $500 per device to some Pixel owners. The total settlement cost works out to $7.25 million. It only covers Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones produced before January 4th, 2017.
Google did admit in March 2017 that there was an issue with some units. It said back then that less than 1 percent of Pixel smartphones had a “hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec.” This had resulted in issues with calling.
Google rectified it by promising “additional steps to reinforce the connection.” It was sued by owners less than a year later who didn’t agree with Google continuing to sell the Pixel handsets while knowing about the connection issues.
Owners of the affected devices will be grouped into four categories to ascertain their level of compensation. The highest compensation will be awarded to those who returned a Pixel with a defective microphone and then received another defective unit from Google. They will receive up to $500. Owners who got just a single defective unit get up to $350 with customers who paid an insurance deductible also getting that value back.