Did you do the express replacement option, or is this just a new order? (or something else?)
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Buzzing / static sound coming from back of new iPhone 7 Plus
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Did you do the express replacement option, or is this just a new order? (or something else?)
my first time chiming in on this lengthy thread that has been both helpful and discouraging...
from what i understand, your issue is the same one that i have experienced, and in my humblest opinion, you won't find a replacement phone improves your situation. i too noticed a problem last week when i was making a video of my daughter at the playground which was relatively quiet and non windy. there was district white noise in the background that was almost comparable to the sound of her and the friend who was playing with her.
since that incident, i came across this thread and made multiple tests in quiet rooms, noisy environments, etc. in some some situations, the white noise isn't noticeable (louder environments and louder things being recorded).
i have tested 5 iPhones 7 units and all have comparable white noise in the background that sounds like you suggest: running water/wind. they are noisier than my wife's SE, my iPad air 2, and anecdotally, old videos recorded on my iPhone 6 (i sold it, so couldn't make a head to head comparison). the variety of iPhones i have tested have been both AT&T and Verizon variants, so this is not modem related.
i also, for my situation, have not seen an improvement of the white noise issue with the phone in airplane mode nor do i notice a change in behavior when under bigger load (4k vs 1080p 30 or 60 fps video).
There was some variation in slight tone and volume for the five units i tried (3 demo units at apple, my first iPhone 7, and a second one which i bought (so i could compare it with my first unit head to head over a couple days and situations). in the end, i kept the 2nd iPhone and returned the first one an hour ago. but i could have really flipped a coin. they were comparable in white noise level. some recordings were better on one phone, and some on the other.
IMHO, i think we are sort of stuck with this unless a software fix is possible for mic sensitivity setting. in my less than rigorous tests, however, it just seems that the signal to noise level on the 7 is lower than previous iOS devices.
one additional test i ran on the two units i purchased was to record video using the Mic of my Sennheiser ($30 earbuds with controller) earphones/mic. this video had a lower noise floor.
finally, i do acknowledge understand that some people have a noticeable sound that is audible and has a high frequency character. this is one that i think a phone swap could realistically fix. if someone has a noise that is dependent on CPU load or hearable from across the room, that warrants an immediate attempt to get a new unit, IMHO.
for my two iPhone 7's, i can faintly hear something with the volume turned way up on a headphone amplified signal on my Mac Pro (expensive sennheiser cans and nuforce amp), but for my circumstances, this is a nonissue. i can barely hear something when i press my ear against the apple on the back in a quiet room for both the phone 7's that i had the chance to play extensively with.
so, as noted earlier in this thread, there are two issues:
- white noise when recording videos
- whining, high pitched screeching that is load dependent, and leaks into videos and is audible on its own and during phone calls.
it's the latter issue that seems to be a hardware issue that has shown some likelihood of being fixed by simply exchanging for a different unit.
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Apple sent me to AT&T and AT&T said they couldn't do nothing that it was apple who had to take care of it. I then called apple back and they said they can send me a refurbished phone but I can't get a new one. They said that they can't send me a new one because I preordered at the at&t store so at&t is the one who bought it from them not me. They offered me a free accessory and told me to go back to the AT&T store and they would speak to them directly. I've never had this issue with apple before with any of my phones. I have a question for everyone. When you take a video in a silent room is there noise on the video? I haven't been able to try any other ones to see if they are all like this or not. If so then I will just keep mine. I can also hear it on recordings unless what I'm recording is really loud.
see my reply above.
all devices (two iPhone 7's, iPhone SE, friend's iPhone 6, iPad air 2, iPhone 7plus from friend) have noise in a quiet room. but in my experience, the 7's and 7plus have a louder background noise than the other devices. hard to put a number on it since sound follows a huge range (log scale), but it's noticeable, which tells me it is at least 3db...not 10db, but maybe 3-6db louder. (this is all anecdotal though... i didn't try a sound level meter which could be done if one wanted to do all the legwork...)
Thank you for the reply! What you described is exactly what is happening to mine. I don't have the problem with the whining noise. They told me if I get a replacement from apple it will be a refurbished phone so I'm considering just waiting. I would hate to get one with a problem worse than what I have now.
I think you're being fed a whole load of crap to be quite honest with you.
Apple is able to replace your phone under the limited, 1 year manufacturer's warranty. It doesn't matter where you purchased it from, it's an Apple product and they all come with that warranty. They state that you're going to get a refurbished phone...it doesn't seem possible when the phone has only been out more than a week. I don't see how they can be refurbishing devices already (as another user pointed out)
If I were you, I'd go through Apple Chat support and talk to someone new.
I hear no sound... from Apple officials 
I feel your pain , I had to return mine to VZW and they will charge me 35 dollars restocking fee. This is going to be the last fee they charge me. Right after they get my phone I quit. I'll never: 1. Buy new device 1st day, 2. Buy anything from carriers.
If I were you I try to talk to Att's retention dept. (when you dial 611 just say "cancel" and system transfer you there). When I had Att they forgave me 35 dollars restocking fee after I explained them the situation. VZW offered to return me 0 dollars.
I feel your pain , I had to return mine to VZW and they will charge me 35 dollars restocking fee. This is going to be the last fee they charge me. Right after they get my phone I quit. I'll never: 1. Buy new device 1st day, 2. Buy anything from carriers.
If I were you I try to talk to Att's retention dept. (when you dial 611 just say "cancel" and system transfer you there). When I had Att they forgave me 35 dollars restocking fee after I explained them the situation. VZW offered to return me 0 dollars.
it is unlikely you would get a refurbished unit this early in the game. and for what its worth: any refurbished Apple product i have either bought or received as a warranty replacement in the past has been for all intents and purposes new.
it's hard for us to compare directly, but from what i gather your problem is "normal" as far as iPhone 7's go. the best of the 5 i tested (a rose gold one at the apple store) was mildly better than the other four...but i think with a blind test, it might be hard to consistently choose the best one.
if you have an apple store nearby, you could do the same thing i did : run a test with a couple demo units and compare against your phone. (this may be harder in a mall... thankfully i was at the Stanford shopping center, so the Genius and i took them outside where it was relatively quiet to compare the units)
Apple will swap it out but it's useless. You're going to have the same issue or a new issue altogether. So return it and go back to your old phone because if you go past the 14 day return policy you're stuck with a phone you ultimately don't like. Either that or waste your time swapping device after device with Apple. That sure sounds like fun!
So Apple support called me back yesterday. Told me that their Senior Engineering team are aware of the issue, are currently investigating it and they will be back in touch once they have an update but can't say how soon that will be.
For clarity, my concern is the overly loud processor whine, hiss, crackle or whatever you want to call it. The background noise on video recording does not cause me concern as I don't really use the video function much and it seems to be at an acceptable level for me.
I have ordered another one for delivery on Thursday and will be returning my current unit. If the new one is no better then I will return that and play the waiting game.
For clarity, my concern is the overly loud processor whine, hiss, crackle or whatever you want to call it. The background noise on video recording does not cause me concern as I don't really use the video function much and it seems to be at an acceptable level for me.
I have ordered another one for delivery on Thursday and will be returning my current unit. If the new one is no better then I will return that and play the waiting game.
It is difficult to decide what to do when facing the noise issues reported here because one cannot determine if the issue is the result of bad design or poor manufacturing. For instance, the iPad Air 2 vibrated noticeably while playing sound. I remember that some said that the vibration was "normal" because Apple made the iPad so thin. Soon it became evident that I had to either put up with the vibration or return the device. I returned it and waited for a redesign. Now I have an iPad Air Pro 9.7 which is just as thin as the iPad Air 2 but with better sound (four speakers) and no vibration.
Perhaps the CPU-related noise (a variable static/crackling noise that can be heard while putting one's ear to the device) seems to be so prevalent in the iPhone 7 Plus because it is the result of bad design rather than poor manufacturing; I don't know and would not speculate. But then, my wife's iPhone 7 Plus does not make that noise. I put my ear to the back of her iPhone 7 Plus while running Geekbech 4 and Speedtest and heard nothing. My iPhone 6s Plus does not make the static/crackling noise either.
However, when tested with Speedtest, my wife's iPhone 7 Plus had a significantly lower Wi-Fi download speed than my iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus. Could the relatively lower Wi-Fi download speed be a defect related to her iPhone 7 Plus not producing a static/crackling noise? The possibility occurred to me because the static/crackling noise made by my iPhone 7 Plus is louder when running Speedtest than when running Geekbench 4.
Then, there is the constant hiss while playing a video recorded on the iPhone 7 Plus. It is different from the video playback hiss (white noise) on my iPhone 6s Plus and my iPad Pro 9.7 in that it has a higher pitch and, perhaps, is also louder. This is annoying and can make one feel as having purchased a mediocre rather than a premium smartphone. I do not get the variable static/crackling noise during video playback as some of you have reported. But I cannot rule-out that the constant higher-pitched hiss during video playback is not related to what causes the aforesaid static/crackling noise.
The closest Apple store to my home requires purchasing an airline ticket. I will call Apple and, depending on the options given, will decide what to do. In the meantime, any thoughts or insights will be welcomed.
Perhaps the CPU-related noise (a variable static/crackling noise that can be heard while putting one's ear to the device) seems to be so prevalent in the iPhone 7 Plus because it is the result of bad design rather than poor manufacturing; I don't know and would not speculate. But then, my wife's iPhone 7 Plus does not make that noise. I put my ear to the back of her iPhone 7 Plus while running Geekbech 4 and Speedtest and heard nothing. My iPhone 6s Plus does not make the static/crackling noise either.
However, when tested with Speedtest, my wife's iPhone 7 Plus had a significantly lower Wi-Fi download speed than my iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus. Could the relatively lower Wi-Fi download speed be a defect related to her iPhone 7 Plus not producing a static/crackling noise? The possibility occurred to me because the static/crackling noise made by my iPhone 7 Plus is louder when running Speedtest than when running Geekbench 4.
Then, there is the constant hiss while playing a video recorded on the iPhone 7 Plus. It is different from the video playback hiss (white noise) on my iPhone 6s Plus and my iPad Pro 9.7 in that it has a higher pitch and, perhaps, is also louder. This is annoying and can make one feel as having purchased a mediocre rather than a premium smartphone. I do not get the variable static/crackling noise during video playback as some of you have reported. But I cannot rule-out that the constant higher-pitched hiss during video playback is not related to what causes the aforesaid static/crackling noise.
The closest Apple store to my home requires purchasing an airline ticket. I will call Apple and, depending on the options given, will decide what to do. In the meantime, any thoughts or insights will be welcomed.
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It's the rapid clicking/ticking noise that accompanies the dial up modem noise when running GeekBench 4 that baffles me. I recorded a video clip and you can clearly hear the clicking.
Okay, so where does that leave the large number of us who definitely don't have audible whine from the phone itself but do have whine in recorded videos? And I mean whine, not white noise.
And what do you mean by the Mac Pro playback thing? What are you actually listening to? I don't get it.
The hissing and clicking has nothing to do with OIS. That's the silliest thing ever suggested in the history of tech. Pay no attention to him.
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All you had to say was swapping the phone out does nothing at this stage. If it's not one issue it's another.
Can someone please film a video of their phone making noise from a distance. Not because you put your ear to it.
I've just heard back from the Apple after they advised me last week that the engineering team is looking at it. Result from the engineering team is that it is a software issue, not hardware and they are asking me to do a bunch of tests....
Software? Thats B.S if you ask me!
They wont be able to make this issues go away with an update!
This is going to be interesting.
My first 7+ had the noise once with the camera app open. I tried to reproduce it again later but couldn't, not even with other apps like speedtest and geekbench. Unfortunately that phone had a scratched screen out of the box so was exchanged.
Current phone has noise almost constantly. I have raise to wake enabled, lifting the phone to light up the screen, nothing. Press the home button (not even unlocking the phone, just pressing it) and the noise starts.
If they release a software fix that works, then great, but hopefully it's not at the expense of performance.
Whine I presume means doesn't sound like running water? I don't know in that case.
Mac Pro: what I did was download the video files to my mac pro and then played them back through USB to a dedicated headphone amp and expensive headphones. I thought this was a more reliable way to compare different recordings/videos.