I have no proof of this but I suspect the phones with the new intel modem are the ones who have the noise issue. The first years of the intel based MBPs I experienced the same issue and i rememembered reading about several other users experiencing the same thing.
That's was similar to by original theory too, but (correct me if I'm wrong please--I might be) I thought the Intel modems were exclusively used for the GSM (non-CDMA) models. I asked toward the beginning of this thread if everyone experiencing the issue had the GSM only model, but one member confirmed the issue on a Verizon (CDMA) model.
You really have to concentrate to hear it - and you have to press the phone to your ear next to the camera on the back. If I don't do that I cannot hear it at all.
I am pretty sure you can also hear it on your iPhone 6S+ if you run a benchmark and press the back (next to the camera) against your ear. But you don't do that when using your phone so it really is not a problem...
FWIW I had two called this morning total time 30 minutes, and i have the noise never once heard it from the front end of the phone, nor did it interfere with the phone calls.
I would agree if you could hear it from the front. I cannot.
See this is hard to pinpoint because what one user might hear another user might not if given the same phone. Depends on how sensitive your ears are which makes this hard to judge how widespread the issue is within a forum. Now that this has been caught by all these tech sites its hard to believe we still have no idea which component it is coming from. Obvious answer would be the CPU but who knows. I just want confirmation good or bad that this is a defect or normal operation. Its one of those things where once you know its there you tend to listen for it. Similar to last year with the screen issues, once aware it was hard to "not see" the problem spot. I would be curious if display models have it although might be hard to hear in a store environment.
^^Exactly
@IconIc215 . To all the above that I quoted--you have to remember that as we age, the frequency of sounds we can hear starts to shrink, especially high frequencies such as those being emitted from iPhone 7. Many of us may have lost the ability to hear or hear well the high frequency sound that the phone emits. I am still young, in my mid-20s, and I hear it well. Loud and clear. But I have no doubt that if I were a little older, the noise would sound much quieter. If I were older still, the noise maybe would be nonexistent. It's like those anti-loitering devices that some businesses use to keep teenagers away from the store. They emit a loud, high-pitch sound that only younger people can hear. It bothers their ears and is annoying, so they stay away. Meanwhile customers and employees don't even know a sound is being played because they can't hear it. Remember the "mosquito" ringtone that middle school/high school students would use to not get caught using a phone at the wrong time? It's a high pitch ring tone. The students hear it, the teacher does not. Same concept. So you're absolutely right, this is very hard to pinpoint. I guess the only real way to do this scientifically would be to record audio of the phenomenon and check out the frequencies that were recorded on screen, instead of just trusting our ears.
So if any of the above posts about having to concentrate to hear it, or not being able to hear it at all, only being able to hear it faintly from one specific spot, etc.-- please keep this in mind.
Maybe you can just not hear it? We have two iPhone 6S and an old iPhone 6 at home and they all make this low noise. Don't get me wrong - it is not a problem at all. You can just barely hear it in a quiet room when pressing the back of the phone against your ear. I bet this "noise" has always been there...
I've never experienced this on another iPhone. The noise very well may have alway been there, but if that's the case, the 7 model is MUCH more pronounced. Like I said, I noticed it the first day I had it, before I had even read any reports on the issue.
Then you should be an expert and know better. The amount of time you and others have spent on this topic could be better spent returning the phone and moving on.
I never claimed to be an expert. In fact, in a previous post in this thread I stated I'm NOT an expert in this topic. Yes, I have some electricity/circuit background, but my focus is Industrial Engineering. (By the way, you don't need an engineering degree to make an observation or to come up with a possible theory.)
I'm not going to return the phone; I never stated that this was a deal-breaker. The main purpose of "spending so much time" (it was a few posts plus a few short tests with the phone...maybe 10 or 15 minutes worth of time?) was to see how widespread this is, and to get other users' thoughts on the topic. I don't think that was a bad use of my time...exchanging information about our experiences on this issue with one another. If it's a design defect that will be corrected with the next batches, I would like an exchange. If it affects all iPhone 7 models and Apple considers it normal, that's fine too. The only way I'm going to return or exchange this phone is if it's an actual defect. I can live with it once we know officially if this is working as intended or a defect. I think we will know pretty soon for sure. However, the noise we are hearing from this model is undeniably much more apparent and prominent. People who have never heard this from a phone before, such as myself, will be legitimately concerned, as it's not the norm of current smartphones to emit a buzz loud enough that it can be heard from across a quiet room.