A few months back, a report from MacRumors – citing an internal Apple document – claimed that Apple had acknowledged the iPhone 7 microphone issue. More importantly, the document claimed that the repair and replacement would be carried free of charge even for the out-of-warranty devices. However, now MacRumors claims that the company is no longer offering a free repair.
iPhone 7 microphone issue – no free repairs now
The iPhone 7 microphone issue appeared on some of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus handsets, rendering the microphone unusable. The issue would often make speaker button in calls for FaceTime chats unusable. Though the iPhone maker acknowledged the iPhone 7 microphone issue, the company gave no reason for what is causing the problem.
Apple, however, did say in the internal document that an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider would offer a free of cost repair to the out-of-warranty devices as well. Though nothing was announced by the company officially, several users who did avail the free services confirmed the same. Now, it appears that Apple is no longer offering the free repair.
According to MacRumors, the internal document that talked of the free repair has now been deleted. The stores will now bill the customers a standard out-of-warranty fee for the repair work.
As of now, it is not known why has Apple changed its mind, considering the problem will still be there with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus handsets. However, users with in-warranty handsets or with devices covered under AppleCare+ need not worry as nothing has changed for them.
Free repair for “No Service” issue
The issue with the microphone was not the only problem with the iPhone 7 handsets that Apple repaired for free. In February, the US firm also offered a free repair to the iPhone 7 handsets that suffered from “No Service” issue. The handsets suffering from the said issue refuse to connect to a cellular network.
Announcing the free repair for the issue, Apple confirmed that a “small percentage” of the iPhone 7 handsets were having connection problem due to the component failure on the device’s main logic board. “These affected units were manufactured between September 2016 and February 2018 and sold in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, and the US,” the company said.
“If your device exhibits the symptom described above, Apple will repair your device, free of charge. Your iPhone will be examined prior to any service to verify that it is eligible for this program. This program only applies to iPhone 7,” Apple said then.
Unlike the iPhone 7 microphone issue, Apple’s free repair for the “No Service” issue still holds (possibly till September). So, if your iPhone 7 is experiencing the same issue, you can still approach the Apple Store or an Apple authorized service centers.
The iPhone 7 model numbers that were having the “No Service” issue were: A1779 in Japan; A1660 in Hong Kong, the US and Macao; A1660 and A1780 in China. The iPhone 7 models for the European and UK were likely free from the problem.
Common iPhone 7 issues
These are not the only issues that the iPhone 7 users had to face. One of issue seen early when the iPhone 7 was launched was the ‘Activation Issues.’ Though the problem has now reduced considerably, if you are still facing the issue you can try these fixes – restart the handset to confirm if the phone activates after restarting; try activating the handset via iTunes; switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data or vice versa to check if the issue is because of the connectivity. If the problem persists then you must contact Apple for help.
Another common issue that many users faced when the phone was launched was the problems with iCloud Restore. Though most users are now able to easily use iCloud Restore, for some it is a problem even now. Such users can try to address the issue by pressing the Volume Down button and the Power button together. After the device restarts, check if the iCloud Restore works. If not, you may create a local backup on your computer and then restore files to the iPhone from the computer.
One more issue that some of the iPhone 7 users might have noticed is the strange hissing sound. This is not much of an issue as such sounds are common when the CPU is heavily burdened. The only solution to this problem is to be patient as the noise will go away eventually. However, if the noise persists don’t hesitate to call Apple for help.
