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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

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Posted on Mar 2, 2017 5:26 AM

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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

504 replies

Dec 10, 2016 9:39 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence let's not lose sight of the basic issues here. People are reporting to Apple that their phone's don't work properly, many of those people now have replacement phone's which don't work properly either. There are a number of cases where phone's have been replaced more than once and none of them have worked properly. You can spend all day dissecting every thread entry pulling them to bits but I for one just want an Iphone 7 Plus that works. I don't think that's an unreasonable wish do you given how much these phones cost. My car is still under warranty if it doesn't work as designed Audi book it in and repair it, if at some point they become aware of a design defect I receive a recall letter to take the car in for relevant free of charge repairs. Herein lies my problem, my new iphone 7+ didn't work as designed, neither does the replacement. Mobile phones should work in a case, you shouldn't have to try various settings to improve poor call quality, you should be able to make clear calls. My previous Iphone was a 5 which worked fine without all this hassle. I'm an understanding person and 40 years in engineering taught me that faults do occur on equipment but where equipment is replaced particular effort is made to ensure the replacement is fully functional. Apple promised to fully test my replacement Iphone 7+ paying particular attention to call quality prior to dispatch, here I am with that very phone which I can't use for calls because the call quality is so poor. As much as you appear to be protecting Apple, how is a person supposed to react in a situation like that? Using the same SIM card my low end HUAWEI mobile phone makes clear calls as does my wife's cheap Samsung, the two £800 iPhone 7+ phones I've owned don't, simple as that.

Dec 10, 2016 6:35 PM in response to red1mp

I agree!


I'm also on a replacement 7+ phone that continues - like the first one - not to reliably work for phone conversations. By the way, the two fixes I tried - upgrading from an older to the newest version of 10.1.1, and turning off the ambient noise minimizer - have not solved the problem.


Apple, let's solve this soon, please!

Dec 10, 2016 7:50 PM in response to Steven Fisher1

I was with an Apple tech today for an issue unrelated to the 7+ and asked if he had heard complaints about outgoing sound quality being distorted. He hadn't, but asked if I had been using the SIM card from my previous phone (iPhone 5). He said some carriers use SIM cards that are incompatible from device to device. Anyone know if this could be a factor?

Dec 11, 2016 11:36 PM in response to Steven Fisher1

As I've reported throughout this thread my original and replacement 7+ call quality was/is poor, I'm told my voice breaks up. Yesterday I was in my car with the 7+ in my pocket connected to the car by bluetooth with 3 out of 5 bars signal strength, I took a call over bluetooth with the phone in my pocket and the caller could hear me well enough to hold a conversation without my voice breaking up. This has stumped me when my voice continually breaks up during hand held calls.....

Dec 12, 2016 8:19 AM in response to Steven Fisher1

I am having the same issue of people hearing me distant or muffled and Apple refuses to acknowledge the issue. I am on my third iPhone 7 Plus and it continues and Apple tells me there's no issue found with the phone. I asked Apple if they moved the antennas if that has caused the issue and he said no. They need to find a fix this is ridiculous Apple!

Dec 12, 2016 12:31 PM in response to Steven Fisher1

Hi All,


Just wanted to add, that I am having a similar issue with my iPhone 7 - the outgoing call quality is poor. So I called Apple support and they suggested a simple test - to make recordings with the built-in voice memos app to check if the microphone is performing OK. And - unfortunately, it's not. There is a lot of noise in the recordings, some of them are pretty bad - my own voice is becoming very distant the more I move away from the microphone and the hissing is worse. Whereas when I get closer it distorts heavily. It's like when you are making recordings /I record guitar/ and you turn up the input gain too high and then, to compensate, you put in a heavy compressor.

Maybe some of you can make this test as well? (BTW I compared these recordings to ones made on 6S and the quality on 7 is so much worse - on 6S you don't have these issues.)


I am pretty sure this is a serious problem with the noise cancellation process on the new phones - perhaps due to the addition of the 4th microphone? Either way Apple should get if fixed ASAP and I think we should try to make them acknowledge this.

iPhone 7 Plus Phone Call Sound Quality

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