iPhone 4S - Outgoing call no audio

Potential Solution... I have been reading a lot about this issue. I was sure that it was a software issue, now I think it is actually a hardware issue. Here is why...

This video (in 2 parts) shows a iphone 4 reball audio ic:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-n1LJEK3PM

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkEiR6OPhhc

Here is what I did and currently the phone is working normally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jhWxYTVxe4&feature=related

Not sure what this all means, but before I added the cardboard, my iphone4 did not transmit my voice when talking to someone on the phone, now it does 100% of the time. Not sure how long it will last.

Cheers!🙂

To all,

I live in the US. If you are serious, and I have interest from several where I live, I am beginning a class action regarding Apples attempt to sweep this issue away and ignore. The forums are still adding pages since audio gate began in October.

Apple believes the problem will just go away. It will only if we let it. This will be easy to win with Apples track record and the amount of responses just on there own forums.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3977859?ac_cid=tw123456#18475250

Please let me know how your warranty repair goes and if the sim card holds.

I have had the following issue with the iPhone 4S 32GB with Telstra mobile Australia;

Approx. 1 of 10 outgoing calls have no sound.

• When the "Calling..." label is displayed, no ring tone can be heard.
• When the counter label is displayed e.g. 00:01..00:02, the caller and the receiver cannot hear each other.
• switching to speaker and then back in most cases fixes the issue for that call.

• I do use the headphones to listen to music.
• When I make or received calls, headphones are usually not plugged in and are not used.
• Never had this issue with the 3GS

Ted, that was a great summary of where we are standing now. Thanks!

I've been warned by the Apple Support Communities Host that my posts are inappropriate. I read the Apple Support Communities Use Agreement and I suspect that I (as well as many others here) are violating the policy left and right as we are discussing apple policies and speculating on Apple decisions.

Stay on topic. Apple Support Communities is here to help people use Apple products and technologies more effectively. Unless otherwise noted, do not add Submissions about nontechnical topics, including:

1. Speculations or rumors about unannounced products.
2. Discussions of Apple policies or procedures or speculation on Apple decisions.

It is hard to avoid speculating on Apple decisions when no comment on the matter is forthcoming from Apple. We are left to speculate as to weather Apple's keeping silent is an indication of a hardware or software problem.

I would say that Apple's keeping silent is a strong indication of a hardware problem. If this were a software problem and given the seriousness of the problem, Apple would have already released a fix (silently or not.)

The question remains, since Apple does know about the problem (and it is a hardware problem, we can safely conclude that because people are having their phones replaced without resistance), why is Apple continuing to put these bad phones out on the market. There are several possible reasons for that. (Yes, I am speculating about Apple decisions.)

1. The % of handsets affected is very small that testing for them would not make sense.

2. The % of handsets affected is very large that removing them from stock would result in too big of a shortage forcing Apple to explain the shortage resulting in microphonegate, Tim Cook would have to come out and do a whole press conference about it.

Given that 3/4 of the phones I have gone through were affected I would go for #2.

Apple can continue passing out defective phones and continue to replace them as long as the media keeps relatively quiet about it. Mind you, Mashable, Gizmodo and Macrumors have covered this, but they are still very small blogs compared to CNN, HuffPo and NYT, but those are also in the pipeline.

Well, if I can't write what I just wrote, then this forum is obsolete and I may as well not write here anymore. If Apple disables my account, then I definately wont write here anymore 🙂

http://twitter.com/mbenez

I've updated to 5.0.1 and two problems I was having seem to be fixed:

1. Making outbound calls - Callers could not hear me but I could hear them.
2. When I used to turn on my speaker phone I used to hear a loud click / hissing sound for about a second.

One thing I did after I updated to 5.0.1 was reset my network settings and then rebooted the phone by holding the power button down. Did this step make a difference? I have no idea but it is worth a try.

I will post an update in a couple of days to let everyone know if the problems are really fixed.

• Im having the same problem... i got the iphone 4s 16gb just 3days ago, i had to wait 2days for my contract to activate and when it came to the first time i phoned someone it was so quiet I could barely even hear at all i kepy shouting hello? hello? so put the phone down and rang back still the same, tried putting it onto speaker then it was really loud then went quiet again even on speaker, i tried my headphones in it and it was perfect... Going to go try and sort it out today I will let you know what happens.
• Hope it gets fixed only had it three days 😟

I have the same symptoms as described in this thread and I have been promised a new 4s as replacement. 4s 64G black, Siri on, Bt off and ios 5.0.1.

• Sometimes no audio in outgoing call
• Speakerphone when headset connected

If this had happened a few years ago, when there were regulatory requirements that a phone must have been type approved according to GSM/WCDMA-ETSI standards in order to be sold, Apple's conduct would likely to be illegal. To continue to deliver a product that does not work as intended or as specified by ETSI, is probably still against a number of EU directives. In short it is extremely irritating.

I am very pleased with Apple's support and how they meet me as a customer, but I am very disappointed in how Apple handles the product defect situation. For me, they should at least have started screening (if it is a HW issue) and they should have released a SW work around. To swap phones randomly (some people in this thread report up to five exchanges) and (as it seems) continuing to ship phones without having the problem fixed or under control, is very unprofessional.

I have now got my brand new replacement 4s and so far (24h) I have not experienced any of the problem I had with my first 4s, i.e. randomly

• No audio in incoming call
• Audio defaults to loudspeaker when headset connected
• No audio in BT headset

Everything works just fine with the new 4s I am still running 5.0 and will try 5.0.1 in the weekend. The only issue I have noticed is that my BT-headset lost connection twice, but connected directly again when pressing a button.

I did not se any relationship with battery power level when I had the problem.

Data point (U.S., AT&T, no wired or BT headset used):

• 2 week old 4S 64GB black, 38% failure rate in controlled test (no audio on outgoing calls)
  • came with 5.0.1 out of the box
  • Pass/Fail pattern: (F=fail, p=pass)
    • FFpFpppppFp after being on for a few days; never leave Phone app during this run
    • FpFFpppppp leave Phone app and activate something else after each call
    • FppFpFFpFp fresh power off/on reboot, never leave Phone ap during this run
    • 100% success fixing the problem by activating speaker mid-call, then returning to handset mode
• replaced hardware at Apple store, 4S 64GB black, 0% failure rate

  came with 5.0 out of the box, updated to 5.0.1 during restore from backup prior to any calls

• Common prefix in both serial numbers: C39GP, remaining digits different

This issue is starting to make headlines on blogger sites...

We are on our second Iphone 4s 32g Black (Telus British Columbia) - same issue out of the box. unfortunately, we assumed the second one worked out-of-the-box... it did not. I will be going back tomorrow to get a replacement.. and this time testing it before I leave...;-)

ISSUE:

• Exactly the same symptoms as reported by everyone (no audio out, toggle speaker to fix).
• We tried adding the wired headset into the mix... made a mess, the speakerphone activates and gets stuck no matter how many times you toggle.

ATTEMPED REMEDIES:

1. Insert the headset plug (in and out) repeatedly

   didnt work

2. Blow into headset jack (put your mouth right over it and blow as hard as you can)

   worked for 2 calls, then went back to the usual.

3. SIRI on, make call, SIRI off make call with headset,
   1. repeat with bluetooth
   2. repeat with headphones
   3. didnt work for any

RETURN TO APPLE (or Dealer) ASAP before your hardware swap window closes... it looks like APPLE is not willing to let this issue go public... how is that working for them? ;-)

H

I've got an ATT 64GB 4S with similar issues. Like others, the audio stops working on about 1 out of 10 calls which is extremely anoying since this is my primary work phone and I am a remote employee who spends a lot of time in conference calls. I prefer to use a wired headset so my hands are free for computer keyboarding, etc. but that unfortunately seems to make the issue happen more frequently and some other wierd stuff as well (noted below).

Other wierd symptoms:

• with wired headset attached, the phone sometimes automatically switches to speakerphone (this only happens with the phone - other audio like iTunes or Netflix never exhibits this behavior) - when this happens, I also cannot hear the person on the other end
• sometimes a caller can't hear me; other times I can't hear the caller - it's quite random
• sometimes when I am making a call, I will see that the connection is made but will have no audio (no ring, no voice) - this one really seems to irritate people that I call 😉 - I think they hear me but I can't hear them - makes me sound like a crank caller (so good for business calls)
• bluetooth headset seems to work ok, but I don't use one enough to say for sure how it fares in the long run

Interestingly, I had very similar (but not as bad) issue with my previous 3GS phone that was eventually corrected by replacing the phone. The Apple techs were as nice as could be but still, what a pain.

Same issue here only works after I hit speaker on and then off and then handset speaker will work. Did full restore and setup as new ans still no go. All incoming calls work fine.

And yes all plastic has been removed here too. Hope there is a fix. Seems like software glitch because if was hardware then it would never work.

Having the same issue. iPhone 4s - 16GB on AT&T.

Outgoing calls only get audio in Speaker mode. Bluetooth doesn't work. Headset doesn't work. Even talking directly into the phone doesn't work.

My thought was that this sounded like a bad proximity sensor. Anyone else having this?

Same issue -- on my second 16gb white iPhone 4s (AT&T). Was given a new one at the Apple Store a couple days ago and this one does the same thing. Called today and they had me do a hard reset. I have restored, reset network, etc. and still does it. Can't seem to get an answer from Apple as to if it's a known issue or not. They did try to upsell me though and get me to purchase AppleCare.

Starting to regret pre-ordering and getting a launch day phone. Prefer to wait until the kinks have been worked out but my 3Gs was dying.

1990reds, do you use a BT headset also? I believe TheAmdMan is correct, it revolves around the bluetooth headset. Mine was working fine this morning, until I walked out of range of the headset (and hence it disconnected). Once I did that, the issues started.

Will keep trying to get a reproducible case, but was curious if you're using a BT headset...