What you need to know

  • Google has agreed to pay a total of $7.25 million in the class action settlement.
  • Owners of the original Pixel could get a payout of up to $500.
  • A hearing to approve the settlement will take place on June 5.

Google has agreed to pay $7.25 million dollars in a settlement of a class action lawsuit stemming from faulty microphones in the Pixel and Pixel XL devices that were manufactured before January 4, 2017. Owners of the affected devices could be looking at a payout of up to $500.

According to Google, less than one percent of the Pixel phones experienced issues due to a "hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec." This small defect caused users to have problems with the microphone when making calls or using the voice assistant function.

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Google first admitted there was an issue back in March 2017. It then took less than a year for owners to file a class action lawsuit against the company.

In order to determine how much the settlement you may be entitled to, claimants have been split into four categories:

  • Those who returned a defective Pixel and were sent a second defective one could receive up to $500.
  • For those who only had one single defective phone could get up to $350.
  • Anyone who had to pay an insurance deductible could be refunded the amount.
  • If you had no issues with your 2016 Pixel, you could see a payout of up to $20.

The court still needs to approve the settlement, but a hearing scheduled for June 5 to decide whether or not to grant preliminary approval. Until then, you can register for updates from the law firm by filling out this form.

This is the second hardware-related lawsuit has settled in three months. Back in early April, Google agreed to pay $9.75 million in a case relating to the Nexus 6P issues with early shutdowns and bootlooping. A final judgment is expected to take place in that case in a hearing on October 10.