why does my iPad Air 2 make loud pop noise randomly, when touching the screen, closing smart case cover, placing cursor in input text field?

I returned three and they all popped... I finally returned mine for a refund instead of an exchange. I love the Speed: 2GB of RAM, 64 Bit of architecture, the A8X processor, and A8X mobile processor, but I believe there are issues with the conductivity within the device.

I also noticed, after reading Tech guides, that there are two versions of the iPad Air 2. One UI iPad5,3 & the other is UI iPad5,4. the Benchmark on the iPad5,4 is a bit higher than the iPad5,3. Everyone I know has an iPad5,3... The Tech reviewers all received an iPad5,4 to review.

This is not a software issue either. Any motherboard that makes a popping noise is not good, especially if it is located right where the Processor and RAM are.

I have heard folks trying to talk their self out of returning their device by saying it may be "settling" computers especially SSD driven computers do not have any moving parts that would "settle". They are soldered to a mother board along with the processors, RAM, Qualcom chip, etc... In other words there is nothing to "settle" or nowhere to "settle" to. I would strongly suggest returning yours if it is making any kind of popping noise. As terrible as it may be it is the only real way to resolve the issue. Contact Apple via http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html and share your experience. Read the hundreds of Apple lovers expressing all of their efforts and remember that Apple's Flag Ship will soon have a fix...

THe Apple Store where i live said, when I returned two iPad Air 2, that it was a hardware issue. they said the speakers where fine and it was something they have been seeing with the earlier produced iPad Air 2's. They suggested a refund. So that is what i did. I got a follow up call from the Apple Business Team and they gave us thumbs up on the iPads and we purchased just two before we commit to upgrading all of our ipads. So far so good. The thing that bothers us is we have had every gen of iPad and iPad mini and this is the first time we had any issues. We have six iPad Mini 3's and they are fine but the Air 2 intialy had popping and other problems. If this was software i really believe there would have been a update by now. I think they had early production problems with the Air 2 and maybe they one solved it or two some work and some don't. It is as simple as that especially with electronics. As a company we are going to wait until next year to start upgrading. But as far as the mini it is A nice substitute.

Is there a different part number on the 2 new iPads that you got that were produced later that do not have the popping problem ?

I also was hoping it was software. I exchanged my first one back in October and my second one still has the problem. Not often, but enough to be a concern for something this expensive and from what you wrote is a hardware problem aknowledged by Apple.

I'm way out of the 14 day exchange window for the second one. Wonder if Apple will institute some type of special exchange program to enable people to exchange for the newer produced ones without the hardware problem.

Glad you know have 2 without the issue.

same part #. As for finding out what week it was produced I do not know.

Well, if you bought the iPad after Nov. 1st Apple has a 30 day holiday return policy I think. I read it in their return policy. I also was told that by Apple Care too. I was also told if you bought it online you get 30 days but I am not sure. The store told me different but there has always been a bit of a disconnect to what Apple Care says vs. what the Stores say and do. If I were you I would try and get an exchange or refund... Or try and work through Apple Care to exchange it or get a refund. Apple should repair it if it is making that noise. Some people say they can reproduce the noise but I have never been able to do it. On the day I received both of my first two. They popped all the time and when I called they set up an Genius Bar appt... I went and they both popped as I was demonstrating what I was doing when it happened. You know how the Genius Bar is they want you to jump through a few hoops before they simply return the product for a refund or exchange. Any way I wish you the best...

My new iPad Air 2 which I just received last Wednesday has the same problem of popping sound... Knowing users here with replacement still having the same issue, not sure if I should get mine exchanged or else....

So sad with this purchase that having such large scale issue unsolved after going on market for some time...

I know this is a bit late but there are still problems with the iPad Air 2 and I wanted to let some folks know that I had problems with two sets of two and then waited almost a month and got two more. they worked fine for about two and a half weeks. I use them for business so I can say i used mine night and day and really stress tested them. Then mine started to pop every once and awhile as I touched the screen a few days later my wife's started to pop too. We took them back to Apple and they acknowledged it was a hardware issue and refunded us our money. We are going to wait, as they suggested, until after the New Year!

I wish I had better news I also have been told that this issue is not just a few here and there it is everywhere and folks are waiting for a software fix or they thought it was the speakers and did not do anything. If you have one that does this please return it...

im having the same problem, clicking atleast 3 times a day for the past week ive had it 😟 it makes me jump.

Just wanna drop a note saying I have this problem too on my 128 gb wifi-only gold iPad Air 2.

Random "pop" sound like removing/attaching a cable to an amplifier while its powered on. Some kind of "discharge" sound from the speakers.

I notice mine happens randomly when the keyboard activates/deactivates (comes up or down). And no, it's not a keyboard effect sound.

i've tried muting/unmuting, toggling "change with buttons" in the settings menu, full reset to factory setting, freshly updated to the latest iOS 8.1.2, and got a 2nd replaced unit and the random pop (I'm calling it "pop" cause this seems to be what the people at the discussion forum is calling it) sound is still there.

Hope there's a fix soon! Either software/hardware/replacement program!

My iPad Air 2 is currently doing the same thing I just purchased it a couple weeks ago and every now and then it makes the loud popping noise. My iPad is the 64 gb gold ipad air 2. Its past the store warranty and if this is a hardware issue i will have to exchange it with apple. I live 250 miles from the closest apple store sadly so I will have to use their online service which means I will be without an iPad for some time, I really dont want to do that I hope this is a software issue and i hope they fix it.

Have the same issue. Looks like no-one has found a fix. Mine only does this when on the charger and a audio notice happens for something like a email arriving. The speaker amplifier is likely not powering up cleanly without pop-clicks. It only happens when the unit has been sitting and apple likely powers down the amplifier into low power mode. If the audio notices for emails are back to back the first results in a pop/click when it powers up the amplifier and the rest are ok until some time has passed again.

There is only a few possible outcomes here. 1)The power up sequence apple uses for the amplifier needs modified to remove the issue and could be fixed with a software update. 2)The amplifier design is buggy and will always result in a pop/click during power up and most people just don't care to go check out the case. In this case a replacement does no good they are all bad. 3)The amplifier chip in units with the issue are out of spec and did not correctly get screened during test. In this case a replacement would solve the issue. What really concerns me is that this pop/click is likely damaging to the speaker long term.

Likely why this is hard for most to reproduce is that you must first let the amplifier enter low-power or shutdown mode. Then only the first sound when it powers back up results in the pop/click. For me seems to only happen when on the charger. What is a pop/click? Type "pop click amp" in google for some more technical details.

Sadly, I am on my 3rd iPad Air 2 since Christmas. I am ready to scream. I just got this one last week....and it's been popping all week. Not constantly....but at least once or twice a day. Going to start the exchange routine once again. Im going to tell them if they can't supply me with one that isnt defective.....to replace it with the first Air. I'm really am tired of this. Nearest Apple store to me is an hour away.

Your description is very similar to mine. I thought that it was to do with new email, but I don't think so now as I have specifically checked for new, unread emails when it happened recently. Not static, as this morning I had been using the iPad for a short while before it popped.Sometimes it pops when I have the charger in, other times not. Sometimes it happens when I simply close the cover.

Often after the pop I lose all sound; no keyboard clicks, nothing. I then have to do a complete restart to get sound back. Always very loud, sometimes the 'pop' is more like a squawk.

I have not found any way to force it to pop.

Seems more s/w based to me than h/w, but anyway I have posted a bug comment to see if there are any suggestions as I am concerned if it is a h/w problem.

(Air 2 with ios 8.2)

I Have the same problem I'm on my 2nd iPad. I had found a fix that worked for like three months but it is popping agin please help