Some iPhone X Reported To Have Crackling, Buzzing From Earpiece

The recent slew of issues, be it hardware or software, coming from brand new smartphone models might have some wondering if quality control is going downhill or if users have just become too meticulous about their devices. And since some of these involve really expensive smartphones, the expectations of perfection are even higher. The latest to join the list of complaints is, unsurprisingly, the iPhone X, which is now reported by some owners to exhibit either crackling or buzzing audio coming from the phone's earpiece speaker at high volumes.

iPhone watchers might recall an almost similar complaint about the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which was fixed in the latest iOS update. That, however, seems to be distinctly different for two reasons. One is that the iPhone 8's audio problems only occurred when making phone calls. The iPhone X exhibited the broken audio in anything that used the earpiece speaker, from calls to playing media.

The second important difference is that it only happens when the iPhone X's volume is set to very high or max. Now some might argue that some speakers do exhibit distorted audio at those levels. The counter-argument to that is that Apple is usually known for better quality components and that not all iPhone X units seem to be affected.

That last bit is part of what makes the issue both odd and difficult to pin down. It is only happening for a small number of users, but their numbers are growing and are enough to take note of. Apple is reportedly replacing affected units, but some owners are claiming that even those are still behaving similarly. Apple has not yet commented on the matter but is gathering feedback and information from affected users. Hopefully, like in the case of the iPhone 8, it is just a software problem rather than a manufacturing defect.

VIA: MacRumors