Apple Will Repair iPhone 12s with Audio Issues for Free

Apple has agreed to fix audio issues in some iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro models manufactured through April 2021 for free.

“Apple has determined that a very small percentage of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro devices may experience sound issues due to a component that might fail on the receiver module,” an Apple Support document notes. “Affected devices were manufactured between October 2020 and April 2021. If your iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro does not emit sound from the receiver when you make or receive calls, it may be eligible for service. Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will service eligible devices, free of charge.”

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The free servicing program does not include iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max models, Apple says, presumably because they do not use the affected components.

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Conversation 12 comments

  • ronh

    Premium Member
    28 August, 2021 - 11:28 am

    <p>Wow free repairs on a device less that 1 year old.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      28 August, 2021 - 12:34 pm

      <p>Yes, this is Apple agreeing to comply with statutory legal responsibilities in most countries…</p>

    • nbplopes

      29 August, 2021 - 9:00 am

      <p>This is beyond the warranty.time.</p><p><br></p><p>I had a 4 year old MacBook Pro that had replaced for free in a similar program.</p><p><br></p>

  • mattbg

    Premium Member
    28 August, 2021 - 12:08 pm

    <p>I like Apple stuff a lot when I’m away from the desktop, but I’ve had two audio issues lately:</p><p><br></p><ol><li>iPhone 11 earpiece became garbled and staticky. Reboot did not fix. Not officially acknowledged by Apple and the device was out of warranty when it started. After being present for months and essentially being unusable as a phone without a headset, eventually it just disappeared after one of the iOS updates.</li><li>AirPods Pro noise cancellation stopped working properly. Crackling on one side and a hollow ringing sound otherwise. These were out of warranty but they had a special exception for this particular issue, which apparently is quite common.</li></ol><p><br></p><p>I have no idea what hypnosis they have me under, but at no point did I say or even think "I’m never buying Apple stuff again". The repair process for #2 in particular (which was done by mail) was so efficient that it was impressive in itself – all done by mail, and with 2 days lag in me dropping off the return package, I still had it back in less than 1 week since I first chatted with them to have it resolved.</p>

  • winner

    28 August, 2021 - 12:50 pm

    <p>"It’s unapologetically broken"</p>

  • finaldx

    Premium Member
    28 August, 2021 - 2:21 pm

    <p><br></p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    28 August, 2021 - 6:01 pm

    <p>The question would be how long it may take to replace faulty hardware, as in, how long would people be without their phones?</p>

    • prebengh

      29 August, 2021 - 7:27 am

      <p>I have had at least 15 Apple devices over the last 12 years ranging from Airpods, Apple Watch, iPhones, iPads, Macbooks (I sell the old one when I upgrade). I have only had two problems, a 15” Macbook Pro with display retention and an Apple Watch that lost sound and haptics. The Macbook was 9 years ago, I don’t remember exactly how long it took for repair (it was through a retailer), but for the Apple Watch I contacted Apple at 5 PM a Thursday afternoon, I received a return box on Friday and returned it through a courier the same Friday, and I received a new Apple Watch on Tuesday, five days (including a weekend). I was amazed of the support quality.</p>

    • MoopMeep

      29 August, 2021 - 12:23 pm

      <p>One advantage of apple over android, your device breaks, go to the apple store. It seems like with google,samsung,hawaii,sony that it probably isnt as easy to get a device repaired, probably more hoops to go through…. That would be a good article to compare all the manufacturers to see how they handle repair</p>

      • Paul Thurrott

        Premium Member
        30 August, 2021 - 8:46 am

        <p>I agree that having a local Apple Store is useful. But my Pixel 4a 5G <em>did</em> break, and Google uses a company called UbreakIfix that has local locations. It was 10 minutes from my house, much closer than the nearest Apple Store. So I guess your mileage varies.</p><p><br></p><p>https://www.ubreakifix.com/</p&gt;

        • MoopMeep

          30 August, 2021 - 10:39 am

          <p>Thanks, I stand corrected.</p><p><br></p><p>Looking up on the samsung site, it looks like they use ubreakifix too.</p><p>Some vendors like to hide the repair info, samsung it was pretty easy to find it.</p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        01 September, 2021 - 6:13 am

        <p>Android is better in Germany, as there are very few stores – the nearest one is a day-trip away.</p><p><br></p><p>If I break an Android phone here, the carrier sends out a replacement and picks up the damaged phone. If it is a broken screen, I have to pay for the cost of replacing the screen, but keep the refurbished phone.</p><p><br></p><p>If I break an iPhone, the carrier picks it up, sends it to a workshop and I have to wait 2 weeks for it to come back. No replacement, no loaner.</p><p><br></p><p>The Apple experience is nowhere near as good as the Android makers, here. Unless you pay extra for Apple Care, but I find it a bit extreme to have to pay that on top of the price of an iPhone to get the same service that the cheaper devices offer for free…</p><p><br></p><p>That said, for other reasons, I am seriously considering going back to an iPhone next time round.</p>

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