Google Settles Pixel And Pixel XL Class Action Suit, $500 Payday Might Come To Some Owners

Owners of the original Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones who have devices that were manufactured before January 4, 2017, may get some money from Google. Google has agreed to a proposed settlement for a class action lawsuit that was brought by owners of the original Pixel devices who claim they were sold devices with defective microphones. The settlement could see owners getting up to $500 from Google.

Google finally admitted that there was an issue with the microphone in some of the smartphones in March of 2017 when it said that less than 1% of Pixel phones had a hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec. That crack caused issues for affected users when calling and when trying to use the voice assistant function. Google had promised when it admitted the issue that it would take steps to reinforce the connection.

Less than a year after that, the class action suit was filed because Google continued to sell the smartphones knowing the microphone had an issue. The proposed settlement filters Pixel and Pixel XL owners into three groups to determine how much compensation they are entitled to. To get the highest amount, $500, the user has to have returned a Pixel device to Google due to a microphone defect and have received another Pixel that also had the mic defect.

Owners of the Pixel devices who returned the smartphone a single time will get $350 in compensation. Those who paid an insurance deductible to have the smartphone repaired will be reimbursed whatever their deductible was. Pixel owners who had no issues with the device may get $20 in the settlement. The Google settlement offer has to be approved by the court, and since it is unapproved at this time, there is no claim form for owners to use. Those who own an original Pixel device can sign up for updates here. Owners of these old smartphones could potentially get enough to cover one of the new Pixel 3a devices from the settlement.