iPhone 7: One Fix to Over Five Problems

Techs across the industry have been reporting multiple issues with iPhone 7 and 7+ devices. These problems include delayed touch or no touch, a wide variety of audio failures, and boot looping. These issues can occur even if there aren’t signs of external damage on a device.

While these issues are still under investigation, it seems that these problems are related to a failed solder joint or board trace under the audio IC. This joint helps to connect the chip to the board, but it seems that the board level traces are cracking. A possible reason may be the stress point under one edge of the audio IC, which also happens to be where the solder joints in question are located.

This stress point runs parallel to the top edge of the SIM tray holder, which means that the board may be more likely to bend along the line illustrated below. Since there is a space next to this “fault line” where the SIM tray slides in, the integrity of the frame may also be compromised, which means the board may be more easily exposed to external damage.

Whatever the reason for why this joint comes undone, it’s not an easy fix to reattach it. The audio IC has to be removed, the board traces need to be reinforced or rebuilt, and the audio IC has to be reinstalled. Most shops don’t have the equipment needed to perform this type of repair.

DevicePro Solutions offers this advice to any shop that has a device that might be suffering from an audio IC issue:

The big issue that repair stores can find is if the customer brings in an iPhone 7 for a screen replacement or other repair they may not even know they have this problem until the phone is powered off and back on again. This is because one of the data lines that is affected by the problem is needed during the boot sequence and if the data line signal isn't present the phone will reboot or get stuck on the Apple logo. Our advice to every repair store is to be sure you notify the customer about this growing problem prior to any repair or before turning off the customers phone. Then once they are aware of the risk reboot the phone while the customer is still there so if it doesn't boot up properly they know it isn't your fault and the result of any repair you performed. If the phone boots properly the customer could still have an issue with the audio IC as sometimes it presents itself with intermittent sound issues through the speakers, one or more of the microphones not working or other audio issues.

If you run into a device that’s suffering from an audio IC issue, there are a few ways of dealing with the problem. Shops that sell devices can take this as an opportunity to upsell. Talk to the customer about the problem, and about how long it will take to ship the device to a specialist for repair. If they’re not willing to wait, offer them a pre-owned device, and tell them you’ll transfer their old data for free.

Otherwise, if the customer insists on having their current phone repaired, and if your shop doesn’t have the equipment necessary, you can search for a specialist in your area. Even if you wind up buying a device with an audio IC issue, you should bring it in to get the device fixed. You might spend a bit to get it fixed, but you can make that money back when you sell it as a pre-owned device.

More about the cause of this problem will arise as techs continue to look into this issue. We will update this post as more information comes to light.