*Important--iPhone4s Static/Crackling Noise

Last week the earpiece speaker of my 4 month old iPhone 4s starting buzzing/vibration/humming when I was on phone calls. The buzz was only when someone on the other end was talking, no buzz at all when there was silence or I was talking. The buzz was absent when I used the speakerphone, bluetooth or headphones.

I tapped on the apple logo and heard a ratttling sound. So I figured something must have come loose and I was hearing vibrations.

I was wrong. After taking it to the Genius Bar today, I was told the earpeace speaker was bad and they replaced the phone with a new one (not refurb). Great service and I was in and out in 10 minutes. Of course it took me about two hours to get the new phone up with all my passwords and account settings for 6 email accounts, 20 cloud based apps, wifi, etc...

The rattle I heard is the accelerometor (name?) and apparently all 4s make the noise (confirmed with my new phone and four others).

So if you have a bad sounding earpiece, take it to an Apple Store if you can. Be sure to do a complete backup first.

Well I went in to the Apple store to get my third replacement for my iphone 4s. I told the guy at the Genius bar that the second replacement phone had the same static issues as the previous phones. The guy at the Genius bar said he had never heard of this problem before. He did not believe me when I said many people were experiencing this problem and had received numerous replacements. He said that if my only source showing the existence of this problem is a few people complaining on a website forum then that was not evidence of the problem actually existing. My spouse was with me and he directed the guy to all of the website forums etc that discuss this static problem, including youtube videos. He finally agreed to replace my phone again. Much to my dismay the third replacement has the same problem. I have come to accept that a good percentage of these iphone 4s have this problem and I will just have to live with it. The biggest disappointment in all of this is that Apple is not acknowledging the problem.

I'm on my third 4s too, same problem. It's not few people, it's almost everybody that owns a 4s. I agree, the saddest thing is that apple ignoring this issue. They present themselves as the best company for electronics and yet they don't care about their costumers, their needs and their concerns. Makes you think. Why even purchase their products?

Just happened to me now, noticed it two days ago, and its been happening every since. I guess I'll back it up and try the Apple Store, but I guess it's luck if you get one that isn't going to do the same thing again.

Its funny, I first replaced my phone because of battery issues and the static/crackling noise when calling. My second phone actually had no crackling noise at all, compleatly quiet and perfect. The only bad thing was the phone could not call out at times so i got it replaced again for calling problems. Now on my 3rd phone, it now calls fine but now makes the static/crackling noise again. -_-

@DaiLun

That's weird. My first one had no static/crackling, but could not call out at times, as well. About 50-70 % of the time I would try to make a call, it appeared to connect, but I couldn't hear anything. Although, the other party could hear me. Is that the way yours was acting?

Yes my phone had the same problem also. I would make test calls to my coworker and it seemed like it did not go through. But my coworker recieved the calls and would ask why i called

I've got the same problem. it seems it get away when I turned off the DATA. I noticed it although when I put the phone without making a phone call.... it's weird. It doesn't make it everywhere, it seems to depend on the network location....

5.1 installed .. I'll be monitoring for that annoying cracking sound ... What are your observations so far .. ?

****, still got that annoying sound !

Lame, I was hoping that this issue will be fixed with 5.1, I am currently waiting for my 4th replacement 4S(64 GB), cause now even my camera broke down, peace of crap...

FYI if you turn your 3G the noise will be gone, you won't have 3G but still, you won't get ******* annoyed when you get a call.

I just got my iphone a couple weeks ago and noticed it makes a crackling sound in the ear piece too 😟 sometimes it makes it hard to hear the person on the other end
I suppose there's nothing to fix it then?

Same problem here with my new Iphone, on my 2nd Iphone now. First was replaced with non-refurb, about 3 weeks ago. Just 2 days ago the crackling noice just started back up, can stand in same place and it fades in and out, despite 5 bars.

Hello all,

I just replaced my 3 years old iPhone 3GS 32GB, which could no longer sustain a 3G connection, with an iPhone 4GS 64GB.

I also have the crackling noise in the background when placing calls. It's not really loud, but it is annoying.

Here is what I found until now: it is only present when placing a call over 3G, and using the earspeaker

I therefore conclude:

• the earspeaker is not broken: otherwise the issue would also be present with 3G disabled
• the 3G connection is not the problem: sound quality is fine with earspeakers or loudspeaker

It seems like:

• the 3G connection interferes with the earspeaker, creating the noise
• or the noise can not be produced by the other speakers (frequency too high)

Either way, I am disappointed. I am a great fan of Apple products. I also own a MacBook Pro, an iPad, a TimeCapsule and I am saving up for an iMac. The iPhone is great, when it works ... the 3GS gave me a lot of headaches, and now, the 4GS is also off to a bad start...

I am going to the store next weekend, but I do not have much hope that the issue can be resolved.

Warrenty is not Apple's strongest point 😟

Small update ... after using the iphone for 4 days, it seems the crackling noise sometimes fades away, I suppose it also has something to do with the strength of the signal?