Static in Iphone 4s

Hi everyone,

I noticed that static noise a few week after the purchase of this phone. Noise that lead me to this topic. I saw here that it was useless to change the phone. But I couldn't stand that noise and I thought that for the price of the device, I had the right to ask for a phone that did work.

So I called the support:

- "Try to re-initialise the phone without loading any save".

- "Did it and that didn't work!"

- "This is your appointement to and apple Store, if it can't be repaired, we will change it."

I thought lol, be repaired... They have no idea of the problem.

Appointement to the Genius bar (mmmh didn't get the genius...)

- "Ok, we will proceed to the exchange of your phone"

Once he did it, i asked

- "How could you be sure the problem is solved?"

- "We had problems with some phones and a static noise, but this one is new so it's fixed".

- "Not sure we're talking about the same static noise... But OK".

I found calm place, and try a call. I clearly heard that crappy static noise. A few minutes later, I was in that "Genius" bar again.

- "New phone, same problem! So genius?"

- "What? How can it be? It's a brand new phone! I don't understand!!!" 😮 (with big round eyes)

- "I don't know... Maybe your phone *****?" (didn't really say that)

- "We change the phone, as I told you, it must be the sim card!"

- "No it's not"

- "But we change the phone!!!" 😮 (still having those big round eyes)

- "OK, give me a few minutes, I'll change the sim card".

I changed my sim card to the orange store and came back (after a test of course)

- "Sim card change, same problem"

- "But maybe it's a problem with Orange sims card you know? Maybe it's a problem with the network you know?"

Hard to keep myself calm here... 😠

He call me from the apple store line, and of course I didn't hear the static noise. So he came back with the network issues and the sim card voltage issues. I was really ****** off. And after all, he change again the phone.

Then I maid a few calls in 3G, and no static noise!!! 😎

Here I am, a few weeks later after a call where I did heard that noise!!! That's totally unacceptable!!! 😠

I'll try to change it again, but here is my conclusion:

In 1 month, I'll be able to unlocked the phone. Then, I will sell it with all accessoiries stuff and wait for the Galaxy S3 I think. Apple really *****.

Hi Guys,

I am from Hong Kong. And I am totally, completely disappointed at the 4S and the way Apple handle this issue. They just want to hide it and treat you as if you are just one of the rare cases.

I am here to assure you that every single iphone 4S (be it black, white, 16 gb, 32gb....) has the annoying issue of static / cracking noise during calls!

I have tried a 32gb and at least 4 16gb iphone4S. I also borrowed my friends' phones for testing. THEY ALL HAVE THIS ISSUE. The Genius at Apple Store in Hong Kong seem to be aware of this issue and didn't insist that it's the SIM Card or network problem. They replace the phone for you but god every phone has the same problem! They will just wait until you exhaust all your time and energy and then give in or give up.

They sort of succeeded. I returned the phone and got refunded. I got a new life.

So guys, unless you are an activist or you have got plenty of time and have some ways to arouse the media's attention, don't expect Apple will do anything on that for you. Seriously.

I switched back to iPhone 4 and I will try Android soon.

Good luck to you all.

I also have static noise issue, but mainly in any video recording or voice memos.

Below is my issue(copied from my other thread I had started, before I learnt about this thread).

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3515887?answerId=16813410022#16813410022

Guys, I noticed this issue on my and my colleague's iphone 4S. Would all you confirm, if you are also having the same problem?

Below is the problem:

Whenever you record any video using the camer app or any voice memo, there is always bacground static noise in every recording.

Even if while recording, no one is speaking or no other audio, the recording audio file still has the static background noise.

To test, if your phone also has same problem, please do the following.

1. In a relatively quiet environment(preferably any room), just turn on video recording on your phone for few seconds and do not speak anything or don't make

any noise.

2. Then playback that video. You will hear this background static noise in your recording.

Can you guys confirm, if you are also having the same problem, or is it just few phones or just my phone?

I also tried resetting my phone, but still same issue.

I purchased my iphone 4S just before a week.

I cannot upload my sample video, since the video upload button is disabled here.

4S has really known firmware issues. I would request for a replacement while warranty is still up. My step dad actually replaced his phone 4 times before getting a good working unit.

Similar issue here in Italy... iPhone 4S 64GB iOS 5.1, Vodafone carrier.

Bought on October 2011, replaced once with a brand new iPhone a couple of months ago due to a camera defect related to the optics. Just restored from scratch as a new phone (no backups).

I cannot tell if the previous phone had the same issue since I didn't notice it and I wasn't aware of the "audio problem", however now I defintely hear buzzing/static noise only when playing back videos recorded with the iPhone's camera in quiet environments and 3G on. Switching off 3G prevents this behaviour.

It's not a constant noise, it just happens from time to time and I guess it depends also from the signal strength in the particular location where I'm shooting the video. I found it more frequent in small rooms or, more in general, in indoor environments.

I've also discovered that putting the bumper on worsens the issue. It made me think that the way I hold the phone (thus the way my hands touch the antenna) has an impact.

Now I'm wondering if I should live with it or ask for a second replacement. From what I've read here it appears to be a very common issue and the chances of getting a similar (or even worse) one are quite high...

After numerous replacements, I've noticed that there is a variation in the intensity of the buzzing static noise. The iPhone4S I have now has the static noise but it is barely noticeable.

I would replace it until you get one you are happy with.

The problem in frequent replacements is that you get a refurbished iphone when you replace.

And who knows what issue that refurbished iphone had initially,and what repair has been done.

Hence, since I have that issue only when doing voice recording or video recording, I am not replacing it, since

I don't trust Apple for refurbished devices.

If you call Apple care they will ship you a new unit in a full retail box straight from china.

I had this problem for quite some time. The solution for me was buying an unlocked phone directly from Apple after accidently putting my phone through the rinse cycle. I had oringally bought my phone on contract from a carrier in south korea. I came to the US recently and I heard the same crackling noise even while using an AT&T sim. After the washing machine inccident, and having to shell out for a new phone, I've experienced nothing but crystal clear calling. I have an insurance policy on my original phone, so in the end I will just end up paying the deductible. But this does bring me to believe that the issue could be related to the carrier lock and why Apple didn't discover this issue during testing. Also, most review sites get unlocked phones, that's why most of the major sites haven't reported about this issue, like with antenna gate.

@Zeekme: I think I will decide after checking with my brother owning an iPhone 4S 16GB, just in order to make a comparison. His phone is brand new while if I ask for a replacement I could easily end up with a refurbished one as hary5366 pointed out. Unfortunately I bought my phone from Vodafone 5/6 months ago (together with a data plan) thus I guess asking Apple for a new box is not possible :-(

@dwilliams8649: in Italy all the iPhones are unlocked by default, even if you buy it from a specific carrier so I think this is not the solution for me.

Update:

I've compared my phone with my brother's one. His 4S is brand new.

Long story short: same issue...

I've then compared it to the brand new iPhone 4S of a colleague of mine and the static noise is... louder!!!

However I've also noticed that the overall volume of the video recorded by him is higher so I think that the issue is related also to the upper mic sensitivity.

In other words it's clearly a hardware problem, not sure if related to a bad design or a number of faulty components. For this reason probably it could not be solved easily however, due to the fact that the upper mic plays a role, Apple could think about mitigating the noise by lowering the mic sensitivity/updating the noise reduction algorithm or, if possibile, swithing off the 3g module automatically when using the camera, at least when you're using it just for recording videos.

Completely different story for the static noise during phone calls but luckily I'm not affected ;-)

Korea is similar, the phones are only carrier locked for the first month. After which the become unlocked. As i mentioned, I used an AT&T SIM. Also, according to Apple, the harware code for my unlocked phone and one directly from Apple is different (this is why they couldn't replace my phone for $200 an d I had to buy a new one). More proof to the puddding, my wife also has the 4S (bought in Korea at the same time) and she has the static.

I have had the same issue with my brand new iPhone 4S 32Gb.

It looks like there is some dependancy on the apps running in the background. The most "suspicious" app is the Camera. The static noise frequently occurs when the Camera app remains amongst the launched ones for a couple of hours and more.

So far the solution for me is:

- short press Home button twice

- find the Camera app

- tap and hold its icon until the close button appears

- close app.

The noise disappears at once. Moreover, it does come back immediately if you relaunch the Camera app.

Some times I close all the apps launched in background, but it is too paranoidal 🙂.

Disclaimer: I did not have enough time to test this workaround for more then a few hours. I will write if the solution fails to work consistently in the upcomming couple of days.

Three and a half days later the solution still works!

Whenever I start experiencing faint buzzing sound during a conversation I just quit the applications running in the background.

The Camera app is still the key suspect for the sound vanishes almost at once as soon as the Camera is blasted away from the running apps list.

it's not the camera, it's the 3g card/chip. you'll hear it on a fresh boot with the camera app not running. open speedtest and you'll hear it right away.

i'm on my 3rd phone, they all have it. Apple tells me it's not normal and they will keep swapping it out. now the service manager who was handling my case doesn't seem to want to return my calls.