7 signs that you are suffering from an audio IC failure on your iPhone 7 or 7 Plus

If you’re reading this you probably have an iPhone 7 (or 7 Plus) with audio issues. Read on. We see loads of these devices every week and it is a massive flaw in the iPhone 7 models, luckily for you it’s a repair that we can fix. (Book in here). Unless you have AppleCare+ or your 7 series device is still under warranty then there is no applicable replacement program from Apple for this issue and you’re going to have to get if fixed yourself! (Gee, thanks Apple)

What are the tell-tail signs that this is your problem?

(Here’s where the article title comes in)

More commonly it will start with some of the in-call options being greyed out

1. No Loudspeaker option
2. No add call
3. No Facetime
4. Quite often the voice memo app won’t work.
5. Siri might not respond like she used to.
6. Other user didn’t notice any issue until they restarted their phone and it got stuck in a boot loop. (A boot loop is where the iPhone gets stuck on the Apple icon on start up. More about that in a later post.)

What is the actual problem?

Let’s explain what causing this problem. It is often referred to as an Audio IC failure. The Audio IC (Integrated Chip) or Audio Chip is a control chip on the motherboard of your iPhone. It helps manage the audio that comes in through the various microphones and what goes out through the earpiece and speakers. The chip itself rarely fails in fact 95% of the time it’s the data lines on the motherboard that fail. These data lines are delicate, too delicate on the iPhone 7 in fact and a design flaw. They crack and are no longer able to carry the data from point A to point B. Imagine a road that becomes impassable due to a crack across it.

How do we fix it?

It might sound like this is beyond repair and to many repair shops it is. That’s where we differ. We have Level 3 trained repair technicians that can carry out these intricate repairs. (What’s a Level 3 Tech? More about that later) We have to strip down the iPhone and remove the motherboard. We then remove the audio IC and put it aside for safe keeping. The data lines then are tested and the broken lines are bridged so they can carry the intended data from point A to point B again. There are 4 lines that usually go. The board it then cleaned and the audio IC is re-balled and refitted. This is all done with a soldering iron, a hot air station and a microscope. Sounds simple, right? It ain’t, it’s a delicate procedure.

What the long-term prognosis?

The offending data lines on the iPhone 7 are too weak and it only takes a few small knocks or falls for these to crack and fail. When we carry out the repair, we re-build these data lines to be a lot more robust. We have such confidence in our workmanship that we offer a 12-month warranty with this repair.

What should you do?

If you are covered by AppleCare+ or are still within your warranty then contact Apple and see if they will cover it under warranty. If not, contact us and we will be able to book you in for a repair appointment. We offer a same day repair service for this fault.