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iPhone 17 Pro Max Crackling noise by the left speaker when charging cable plugged in

Gagaohlala

Gagaohlala

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 10, 2020
40
15
Hello, I just had my new iPhone 17 Pro Max. Everything amazing. I put it on charge last night, and when I used it back this morning, I hear a little electricity noise by the charging port when it’s plugged. The sound can almost disappear, then come back. I can only hear it if I put my ear close to the iPhone.

Update : you can hear it when the phone is charging and you unlock it from idle. Screen on, put your ear to the charging port. The sound varies as you use your phone. Noticed it even further with tiktok opened for example. Noticeably louder when phone at 100% charge. (Stock Apple cable)

I tested with my air pods pro or iPhone 15 PM, no sound at all. Should this be worrying ? Do you have the same issue ? Don’t want to go by another exchanging process idk…

Thank you have a nice day :)
 
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USB power supplies are noisy. Putting at least one clamp on ferrite bead on the USB cable will help. I normally put one on each end.

I have my amateur radio license (ham radio) and deal with this all of the time. Every computer and power supply cable that is near my HF radios have clamp on ferrite beads for this reason.

Now I don't know if that is your problem but ferrite beads definitely won't hurt.
 
Well I don’t know I’d like to know if other people experience the same thing with their device, I never had that much noise with my older iPhone at the point that I could hear it alone in silence in my rooom using my phone plugged in
 
All modern electronics and switching power supplies are noisy. Try a different power supply, different outlets in different rooms, etc. This will help determine if it the phone that is having an issue or the noise is coming from something else.
 
I tried with different thing but it’s still there at the charging port of the phone. It’s hard to ear, but louder when the phone is fully charged and using demanding kind of apps like TikTok or YouTube. Maybe it’s me crazy, it’s like a coil whine, but never noticed that before so
 
Gagaohlala said:
Hello, I just had my new iPhone 17 Pro Max. Everything amazing. I put it on charge last night, and when I used it back this morning, I hear a little electricity noise by the charging port when it’s plugged. The sound can almost disappear, then come back. I can only hear it if I put my ear close to the iPhone.

Update : you can hear it when the phone is charging and you unlock it from idle. Screen on, put your ear to the charging port. The sound varies as you use your phone. Noticed it even further with tiktok opened for example. Noticeably louder when phone at 100% charge. (Stock Apple cable)

I tested with my air pods pro or iPhone 15 PM, no sound at all. Should this be worrying ? Do you have the same issue ? Don’t want to go by another exchanging process idk…

Thank you have a nice day:)
Click to expand...
I have the same issue with my new 17 PM. I hear this crackling noise of the electricity and that doesn’t feel right. My 16 PM is totally silent while charging
 
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Gagaohlala said:
I tried with different thing but it’s still there at the charging port of the phone. It’s hard to ear, but louder when the phone is fully charged and using demanding kind of apps like TikTok or YouTube. Maybe it’s me crazy, it’s like a coil whine, but never noticed that before so
Click to expand...

If you tried different chargers and different outlets with no changes then it's the phone. And it looks like you aren't the only one to have this.
 
Yeah I noticed this too on the 17 Pro Max. Some electric devices have ‘coil whine’, it’s just a fact of life. I’m not bothered by it.
 
Gagaohlala said:
Hello, I just had my new iPhone 17 Pro Max. Everything amazing. I put it on charge last night, and when I used it back this morning, I hear a little electricity noise by the charging port when it’s plugged. The sound can almost disappear, then come back. I can only hear it if I put my ear close to the iPhone.

Update : you can hear it when the phone is charging and you unlock it from idle. Screen on, put your ear to the charging port. The sound varies as you use your phone. Noticed it even further with tiktok opened for example. Noticeably louder when phone at 100% charge. (Stock Apple cable)

I tested with my air pods pro or iPhone 15 PM, no sound at all. Should this be worrying ? Do you have the same issue ? Don’t want to go by another exchanging process idk…

Thank you have a nice day :)
Click to expand...
I have the same problem! The sound gets louder especially when the iphone is under a high load while charging (i.e. I'm gaming, which causes quite a loud electrical sound by the charging port.)
 
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Well finally I think it’s not the charging port, the sound comes from the left speaker when plugged ! When I put my finger on it, it mutes the sound
 
I have had this on my 14pro for a while. Happens when on charger and device is ‘working’. Seemingly when using modem/wifi. Lauching apps, back ups and etc.
 
M1mba978 said:
Anyone heard or seen any further info on this / had their phones swapped out?
Click to expand...
Well there’s some thread on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/s/K3WuHqrRAa) with people having the same issue but it’s difficult for this subject to gain traction, i think people don’t notice it on their phone even if they have it… waiting for more feedback from others too
 
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Sound like the phone is picking up RFI from the chargers. And you will commonly hear the noise coming from the speakers.

And if using different chargers and/or electrical outlets does not help then it is the fact that the phone does not have the proper RFI filters in it. Or it could be a bad ground inside the case. No firmware or software update will fix an RFI issue.

I deal with RFI (radio frequency interference) and EMI (electromagnetic interference) all of the time since I have my amateur radio license and run HF radios.
 
Last edited:
bapegg said:
Sound like the phone is picking up RFI from the chargers. And you will commonly hear the noise coming from the speakers.

And if using different chargers and/or electrical outlets does not help then it is the fact that the phone does not have the proper RFI filters in it. Or it could be a bad ground inside the case. No firmware or software update will fix an RFI issue.

I deal with RFI (radio frequency interference) and EMI (electromagnetic interference) all of the time since I have my amateur radio license and run HF radios.
Click to expand...
And why does it make the same noise when opening the camera app even when it’s not plugged? Is this like the same?
 
MakeReal said:
And why does it make the same noise when opening the camera app even when it’s not plugged? Is this like the same?
Click to expand...

Cell phones are nothing more than small radio transceivers that transmit and receive radio frequencies. So yes RFI could still be an issue. A bad ground and/or no common mode chokes can allow RFI to cause issues.

Talk to any amateur radio operator (ham) and they will tell you that RFI and EMI can cause all kinds of noise and other issues. And trying to chase down the problems can drive you crazy.

I'm not saying that its definitely RFI or EMI causing the noise but there is a good possibility of it.

It will be interesting to see what Apple has to say about this.
 
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There are multiple threads about this issue on Apple Support, Reddit and Macrumors forums. It is clearly a fairly common issue with the 17 Pro/Max, and I wonder if it affects all of these devices under the right conditions: sufficiently high power charger, quiet environment, good hearing…

I’ve owned every generation of iPhone since the 3G (every Pro Max since that came out), and I have never had this issue until my 17 Pro Max. It’s pretty bad, especially when an app that uses the speaker is open. When I listen to my 16 Pro Max side-by-side it’s very obvious the 17 Pro Max has an issue.

I hope this gets some press coverage soon, and I hope even more that there can be some software fix / mitigation by Apple so I don’t have to live with it all year.
 
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