iphone 8 poor/sensitive mic during call

I am facing the same problem and the Apple customer support is making me dance around.

I can confirm this is an issue with iPhone X which I just discovered on my first conference call with it. I do conference calls several times a week and never had this problem with the iPhone 6s this X replaced.

My use case: on the 6s I would plug in earbuds and use the phone's built in mics to do the call. It worked awesome! Tried the same with the IPhone X using a headphone/charge port adapter, same earbuds. I have a quiet office environment from where I make the calls.

My symptoms with the iPhone X:

1. with earbuds plugged in, people complain they can hardly hear me.
2. As soon as I unplug the earbuds and use the "speaker" function (from the call screen), everyone says they can hear me normally

Based on the change in audibility transitioning from 1-->2 above, it can't be a hardware issue such as a case. It is either:

1. there are multiple mics, but some get turned off when earbuds are in for some reason (bug)
2. as others point out, there maybe something wrong with the noise cancellation which for some reason doesn't happen when in speakerphone mode, but happens when earbuds are plugged in (bug)

This is an impactful problem for me. I use the iphone for business and using earbuds for conference calls lets me hear everything much better than through the speaker, especially with offshore conference calls. If it doesn't get corrected, I need to look at a droid phone if I can exchange or definitely on the next go around. If I keep it, it sounds like I may need to invest in some external hardware because of Apple's software problem. It's disappointing Apple is dismissing this as a case problem. Quality and customer service are falling off ever so slightly year over year.

Apple died when Jobs died.

Well, I do feel a tad bit better because I’m seeing multiple complaints about the same problem. iPhone 8.... I have 3. 2 are terrible and the other is somewhat better. Very very hard to tell if it’s software/hardware but if you call yourself on another phone, mute the other test phone and talk, it’s a fading, buzzing, mumbling and distant sound instead of a clear voice. 15 calls were made to all different numbers and all the other lines said “hello” “sir”? “You’re terribly broken up” “you sound muffled and underwater”..... my 4th 8 is in transit for a swap. 4 8’s?????? I think it’s time for Samsung.

Yup. I now have 5 iPhone 8’s one is worse than the other. 3/5 bad mic. Nobody hears me. Unless you screem directly in the mic. I did a test. Call it with another phone, lay the iPhone down, mute the phone your calling it from, brush or rub the 2 mic holes right next to the charger port. One side will emit sound and one won’t. Then wait a second, do that again, and the other side won’t work. Very very hard to tell if it’s ios11.x.x.........5 8’s??? All the same? All out of the box?? Hmm odd.

Exactly the same issue with the iPhone 7...We have had a number of them in my business and they are all the same.

We are so over the apple telling us that there is nothing wrong with the phones and have never heard of this problem.

My brother has just perforated the water proof membrane on his iPhone 7 and this seems to have solved the problem with his(not recommending it, but interesting).

This is a massive problem which does not seemed to be address honestly by Apple..

Is the iPhone x the same???

Yes. This exists on the X as well but not too many because not many own it. And the speakers are identical in the 8 from the 7.....they only bumped up the decibels making it a tad more stereo, definitely not 25% louder as ap

Same problem - others complain they cannot hear me - switch to landline and they can. Ringing myself on a landline from iPhone 8 and I sound very soft and narrow bandwidth. This is apparently a fault with iPhone 8 at lease - what is happening about this Apple. If not resolved the phone will be returned for a full refund as not fit for purpose - i.e. being a phone!

After 9 days of troubleshooting and tear downs, and 5 of the same phones, I feel it’s a possible software settle/installation that only affects certain 8 models along with the plus and X... it’s not clear what or why this happens 8/10 times no matter what is done to the phone. From my experience and testing 5 phones, it seems intermittent but all the time. Some are worse than others. 2or 3 can work normal for 1 minute then fade out because the dual microphone has a hard time transferring from one side to the other.... if you talk on the left side, its faint. If you talk on the right side its clear and vice versa. Putting on speakerphone then off, fixes but only for seconds. This issue will go for more thorough tes

Bought an 8s 3 weeks ago and I've the same problem and was calling Apple support. The said that I've bring the phone to a Apple store and they will repair it. I did update to iOS 11.1.2 without success. I did restore the iPhone completely and it doesn't work.

But then I was testing the iPhone 8s with several apps and wondering me: In using Wattsapp call my voice was clear and understandable. I have no clue what's wrong with the micro but it's very frustrating as I have to use the phone for business.

But it seems to be that Apple doesn't care about......it's absolutely annoying!

Its probably a software issue if its only during a call without speaker phone. I think the bug sets the sensitivity of the mic really low while in call. They’ll probably fix it in the next update. Given that Apple acknowledges this bug and actually tries something.

It maybe a software issue however this has continued from the iPhone 7, so please don't hold your breath that apple with fix it in next upgrade.(have you had either an iPhone 7 or 8?)

I think this is a major problem with both the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 8 which apple is not openly acknowledging(obviously).

I am over my Phone and have already had it replaced once with no change in performance rather a continuation of non performance.

An update from my previous post of yesterday: I went to an Apple repair center and they checked the iPhone. Hardware and micro is OK. As clever as they are they changed the SIM Card to another one and it seems to be that it's working right now.

Same issue with my iphone 8 as well. People have been telling me that they can barely hear me when I talk with them, even if my mouth is right near the microphone. Tried many different troubleshoots and nothing seems to work...there isn't anything blocking the microphone either. One of many issues I've had with my iphone 8, actually. Apple seems to be slipping massively when it comes to the quality of their products. Very disappointed so far. They're losing a lot of ground to google and samsung.