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iPhone 7 Plus Phone Call Sound Quality

So we just got 2 new iPhone 7 Plus' and I am noticing that the incoming call audio quality on both sounds strange. I have the Apple leather case on the phone and incoming audio sounds distant. Like it is coming from behind the phone or something. It almost sounds like the phone is on speaker phone but it isn't. Turning the volume down helps a bit but it seems off. Previous I had an iPhone 6 so I don't know how this compares to the 6 Plus.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Sep 16, 2016 11:36 AM

Top-ranking reply

eXactMat

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Mar 2, 2017 5:26 AM

The iPhone 7 (Photo credit: John Taggart/Bloomberg)

With the launch of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Intel finally made its way into Apple's most important product. Good news for Intel, no doubt, but not for consumers.

Tests of LTE connectivity, released on Thursday by Cellular Insights, show a huge performance gap between the iPhone 7 equipped with an Intel modem and a Qualcomm modem. The difference in performance is a black eye not only for Intel, but also for Apple, which for the past five years had relied on Qualcomm exclusively for its iPhone modem chips. With the iPhone 7, Apple decided to make two versions -- one with an Intel modem and one with a Qualcomm modem. (Neither Intel nor Apple have commented on the performance gap so far.)

For consumers, the downside of owning an Intel version is significant. The tests revealed that Qualcomm-powered iPhone 7s are able to consistently establish stronger connections to LTE networks than Intel-powered iPhone 7s. Qualcomm modems outran Intel modems by 30% in overall performance, and 75% when the signal was at its weakest.

Since writing a story about these modem benchmarks, readers have asked FORBES -- directly and via Twitter -- how to make sure they're buying the better iPhone 7 with a Qualcomm modem. If you want to get the best bang for your buck, you probably should be careful which iPhone 7 you end up buying.

Here are some ways you can make sure you're not buying the inferior iPhone 7.

Model number

As this Apple spec page shows, Apple created two distinct versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus to segment out devices with an Intel modem or a Qualcomm modem.

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By checking the model number on the back of the iPhone 7, you will be able to tell:

Model A1660 and Model A1661 means they have a Qualcomm modem.
Model A1778 and Model A1784 are equipped with an Intel modem.

Carriers

If you're a United States-based customer buying from a carrier, the best way to make sure which iPhone 7 you're getting is:

Verizon and Sprint sell the Qualcomm-powered iPhone.
AT&T and T-Mobile sell the Intel-equipped iPhone.

The Apple spec page indicates that the Intel-powered

A1778 and A1784 phones won't support CDMA (or code division multiple access), a cellular technology used on some LTE networks. That means an Intel-powered iPhone 7 simply won't work on CDMA networks, such as Verizon's and Sprint's.

Qualcomm's modem works on all the four big carrier networks in the US. And o

verall, Qualcomm's modem supports a much wider variety of cellular technology than Intel. Qualcomm hardware supports GSM/CDMA/WCDMA/TD-SCDMA/LTE, while Intel's only support GSM/WCDMA/LTE. That means that in addition to improved connectivity performance with a Qualcomm modem, Qualcomm can work on more networks.

Apple also sells unlocked versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhones 7 Plus that

come with a Qualcomm modem.

The relationship between modem makers and carriers is a close one. Supporting various cellular technologies is extraordinarily complex. Each carrier has their own unique network demands and features. Qualcomm has been in this game a lot longer than Intel, and as a result, it has a lot more to offer the consumer, according to experts.

“Building modems for today’s cellphones is an extremely daunting task,” said Sundeep Rangan, an engineering professor at New York University who specializes in wireless technologies. “It has to support a dizzying array of features and get the chips down to a form factor and low power performance.”

Follow me on Twitter @aatilley or send me an email: atilley@forbes.com

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504 replies

JOeg6791

Level 1

8 points

Oct 17, 2016 5:18 PM in response to Steven Fisher1

I think the call quality has to do with the design of the phone and screen. My main issue is that when I talk to people, they sound muffled. I noticed today that when I had the Sirius app playing music and was scrolling through emails, the screen was vibrating and it felt weird. I'm thinking that whatever they did to the screen on the 7 and 7+ is making the earpiece vibrate when people are talking and thus making them hard to hear. Try for yourself. Scroll through instagram or something while you're playing music and you'll see what I mean.

Oct 17, 2016 5:23 PM in response to JOeg6791

I Think you are right on. It's a design thing. It sounds muffled and causes the entire screen to shake! I brought it and the Genius Bar people acted like I was nuts and that's normal for the phone. I have a hard time believing that! I also updated to 10.0.3 and its no better. Love every other feature of the phone except receiver call quality!!

Oct 20, 2016 5:42 PM in response to Steven Fisher1

Just received a new iPhone 7+. I am experiencing very poor sound quality during phone calls. Night and day from my 6+.

Oct 20, 2016 8:45 PM in response to Steven Fisher1

We have two iPhone 6 and three iPhone 6s in our family and all five of us have noticed this in the last couple of weeks.

Oct 20, 2016 11:40 PM in response to Quadmom95

=> Quadmom95:

Have hou noticed same difference compared to Iphone7, of do hou have same problem on IPhone 6?....if so , since updating to IOS10??

Oct 21, 2016 7:00 AM in response to afromvalkenswaard

My husband and I just purchased iPhone 7 Plus, and have not received them yet. I guess the point of my post was that my family is experiencing the same thing on five different devices, two are 6 and three are 6s. We have all updated to ios 10.

I did read this morning on another board that there is a known problem with Verizon, and Verizon is our carrier.

Oct 21, 2016 9:25 AM in response to willpowercan

Hi all I returned my verizon iPhone 7 plus and purchased a sim-free iphone 7 plus at apple store and the sim-free iphone has been working fine so far. At lease the incoming voice is clear to me.

Oct 23, 2016 11:01 AM in response to willpowercan

you are probably one of the lucky ones....

Recieved my second Iphone7 128GB 2 days ago, and still the same muffled sound...

Thinking I'me getting crazy..i put the SIM in my old 4S, and made the call to the same people, very clear sound on both ends..

What should we do?? wait and see what the update next week brings, of ask a refund and buy a 6S.....or better S7??

Starting to loose my faith in Apple after having the Iphone3, Iphone3G, Iphone 4S .......

Oct 24, 2016 12:47 PM in response to Steven Fisher1

Same problem here and is very frustrating!

Anyone has a working solution?

Thanks!

Oct 24, 2016 2:09 PM in response to stavros103

We had the same problem when we finally received our iPhone 7 Pluses. After some research here, We use Verizon. I tried turning Cellular LTE to Data only (Settings>Cellular>Cellular Data Options>Enable LTE>Data Only). Both of our phones are now crystal clear. I haven't decided if I am happy with this solution, but it has worked.

Let me know if that works for you? And does anyone know what we are missing out on by turning this off?

Adesai86

Level 1

4 points

Oct 24, 2016 9:59 PM in response to Briansyddall

Thats what I am going to do... i have samse issue with the phone. However I also have issue with music plays through receiver louder than loud speaker.

Oct 24, 2016 11:22 PM in response to xstream616

Thanks for the reply and the settings you mentioned would

really be helpful and sure there would be a change

as there is a changein signal strength but the problem here

is I don't have seperate settings for voice ...

both data and voice are using the sam channel .

Oct 27, 2016 8:45 AM in response to Steven Fisher1

I have an iphone 7 and the sound is terrible with or without headphones. I use this phone for work so its very frustrating. I am taking it in next week to exchange hopefully. I bought my iphone from Verizon online, can I still exchange it at the Genius bar?

Oct 27, 2016 11:29 AM in response to Steven Fisher1

Yesterday I received my exchange iphone via Apple care protection plan, sad but true it's still the same problem, people are asking me: 'what? Sorry, I cant understand you' and that continues all day, via mobile network, via wlan call, LTE data only, noise canceling turned off/on... restored iphone in DFU mode, also as fresh iphone.... only way I can do phone calls is to use the headset...

talked to an apple senior technican and he said he will inform the apple engineers about this issue. We both said changing it again probably won't help anyway - so now we have to wait. I'm getting a little bit frustrated lately..

I'll keep you guys informed.

Oct 28, 2016 4:40 AM in response to Steven Fisher1

Same problem with iPhone 7 in Russia (Beeline). 😟

iPhone 7 Plus Phone Call Sound Quality