Tag: iPhone 7

Apple has announced that the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 7 Plus now count as vintage products. They went unsupported by Apple over five years ago, but it has been less than seven years since the company stopped making them. Vintage Apple products can still get serviced and repaired as long as necessary parts are available, according to the policy.

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were unveiled in the month of September 2017. At the same time as the iPhone X, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus had glass rear designs, supported wireless charging, and used the A11 Bionic chip. The new models have a home button and Touch ID, as some users still choose them over using Face ID.

With the iPhone 7 Plus in 2016, Apple brought a dual-lens camera, allowing people to take close-ups and portrait shots of subjects. This iPhone also didn’t have a headphone jack,k which was a big subject of discussion at its release.

Five years after Apple stops selling a product, it goes on the vintage list, and after seven years, it becomes obsolete. Support for the software on old Apple products has come to an end.

If you’re using one of these phones, now might be the right time to switch to a newer model. They will probably keep working well today, but continued updates and fixes will grow less frequent in the future.

If you owned an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus back in 2016 or 2017, you might be in for a treat. These phones were pretty great, but some had a problem called “Loop Disease.” This issue led to a class action lawsuit a few years back, which got the green light last year. Now, in 2025, those former owners are starting to see some cash.

The payments are around $200 for each claim, which isn’t too shabby. This money comes from a $35 million settlement, with the lawyers who pushed the lawsuit getting the largest slice of the pie.

The time to join the lawsuit was up last summer, so if you missed it, you’re out of luck. Apple didn’t admit they did anything wrong but agreed to settle anyway.

“Loop Disease” supposedly came from pressing on a specific part of the phone, leading to bad sound during calls, especially on FaceTime. How much money you get depends if you had to pay for fixing the phone due to this issue. Those who didn’t pay for repairs will likely get less, with the highest possible payment being $350.

This isn’t the first time Apple has settled over hardware issues. Last fall, MacBook users with problematic butterfly keyboards also started getting their share from a separate settlement.

So, if you were one of those affected iPhone 7 users, check your mail or bank account; you might find a pleasant surprise waiting for you.