Poor microphone performance on iPhone 17 Pro vs. 16 Pro and older models for video

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Level 1

11 points

Poor microphone performance on iPhone 17 Pro vs. 16 Pro and older models for video

Hi all,

I've upgraded to the iPhone 17 Pro from my iPhone 16 Pro and have immediately noticed poorer quality audio when recording video. I have done side-by-side recordings with both phones, and tried a variety of settings (wind reduction disabled, stereo mode only, and using the BlackMagic app using IEEE float 32bit audio). What I have observed is a significant reduction in higher frequency fidelity and frequency response, and a reduction to the low end performance. This is most obvious when recording music. The intent was to deliver some content to a band, but I had initially thought that their sound engineer got something wrong, until I looked into it further.

To reproduce, you will need an iPhone 16 Pro and a 17 Pro. Record music from anything, and then compare the two. There is a stark difference between both recordings, even when using identical settings and environments between the two devices.

iPhone app developer Faber Acoustical has made the same observations in their measurements.

I'm wondering if there may be a bad batch of mics out there, or some software defects - or if this is genuinely a hardware issue, what I can do about it - or if the iPhone 17 Pro is no longer fit for my particular purpose - that being content creation, a significant decider for customers selecting the 'Pro' phone from the lineup this year.

Thanks!

iPhone 17 Pro

Posted on Oct 6, 2025 4:15 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Caitie27

Level 1

8 points

Dec 10, 2025 3:57 PM in response to evilZardoz

Ok I had the same issue. Here is what I did. Go into your camera and start recording. Then swipe down the control center on the right of your screen, On the top should be a green bar with your microphone in it, click that. If your microphone is set to auto it will sound like trash. If you set it to standard it will make it sound normal. If you want to fix the audio on already recorded videos, go to the video in your photos, click on it, hit the 3 lines down at the bottom (edit button), then click on audio mix, I put it all the way to the end of the cinematic setting and that usually fixes the sound. Such a pain in the butt to add that extra step. Hope this helps!

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Answer 2

Jeff Donald

Level 8

45,294 points

Oct 6, 2025 4:21 AM in response to evilZardoz

Just so you’re aware, this is not Apple support and Apple does not participate here. Everyone posting and commenting are fellow users just like you.

Your best course right now is to talk to Apple Support and get a support ticket opened up on the issue. Once you have the ticket number contact support about your issue and request it be escalated. In short order it’ll go to engineering if it’s determined to be an actual issue and not a setting error etc.

Have you done any troubleshooting? Have you tried a forced restart or resetting all settings?

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Answer 3

arjuna65

Level 1

8 points

Nov 16, 2025 10:43 PM in response to evilZardoz

I can confirm. I recently bought an iPhone 17 pro and recorded a clip at a music performance and the sound quality is atrocious. My 11 pro would have handled it so much better. In fact I still have it so I’ll do a side by side comparison next time.

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Answer 4

evilZardoz Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 11, 2025 3:45 AM in response to Caitie27

Thanks for the suggestion! I've just run some tests and sadly it doesn't make a difference.

For audios recorded with spatial audio, the audio mix is one way to improve the quality from that, but I've already disabled that feature. I've run some tests with iOS 26.1 as well and I've still got the same issue. Will see if iOS 26.2 brings any improvement.

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Answer 5

dadders6

Level 1

12 points

Dec 21, 2025 10:36 PM in response to evilZardoz

I bought a refurbed (by apple) 15 pro. It's still on iOS 18, so none of the suggestions on this page apply. There is no 'green bar with a microphone' or other ideas I've seen on the net. I did a comparison with my pixel 8 pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW49covhOqs

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