Customers Being Charged for Previously Free iPhone 7 Mic Fix

In May, Apple recognized that some iPhone 7 and 7 Plus devices running iOS 11.3 or later had a problem with their microphones. For a time, Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers would fix the problem for free. However, since July, MacRumors has been contacted by a number of people complaining that they are now being charged for the repair. The repair costs $300 on out-of-warranty devices.
The exemptions abruptly ended in July of 2018, though, when Apple deleted its internal document related to the microphone issue and prevented free repairs from being processed through its service portal. Since then, many Apple retail and support employees have refused to acknowledge the policy ever existed. MacRumors has received several emails from affected customers since we published our article in July, but there has been little we can do to help. Apple did not respond to our original request for comment, so we’ve followed up today.