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iPhone 16 Pro Max 2nd batch of iPhone 16 Pro Max has poor quality speaker issue?

M

Mistletoe66

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 25, 2023
147
179
So i bought a 16 pm with battery manufactured date of July 2024. It had Bluetooth disconnection issue, getting hot and drains battery with no apps open, aod off, etc etc,

Today I’ve exchanged it with a newer one (battery manufactured date of September 2024). Will monitor the Bluetooth issue and heat issue. However I noticed that the sound quality playing from my music playlist seems kind of subpar. I could detect that it is playing “lower” quality music as compared to my 15 plus and my July 2024 batch 16 ôm

Just want to ask if anyone Detected poorer quality iPhone 16 pro max in their speaker as well?
 
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My replacement has subpar speakers as well. It's really high pitched and you can't make anything out past 30% volume. Apple told me that's normal for speakers to sound that way. LOL
 
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QueenTyrone said:
My replacement has subpar speakers as well. It's really high pitched and you can't make anything out past 30% volume. Apple told me that's normal for speakers to sound that way. LOL
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My previous 16pm made in July 2024 had great music and quality via iPhone speaker. My replacement 16 pm made in sep 2024 had terrible speaker quality, almost similar to a budget Samsung phone speaker :(
 
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Anonymebaba said:
Guys are your iPhones « assembled in India » or « Assembled in China » ? I have an Indian-made 16 Pro Max and I noticed the same low-quality speaker
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Mine is assembled in china. My speaker sounds similar to any budget Samsung phone speakers :/
 
Anonymebaba said:
Guys are your iPhones « assembled in India » or « Assembled in China » ? I have an Indian-made 16 Pro Max and I noticed the same low-quality speaker
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After spending the past few hours testing several songs. It really sucked. Lol . I’m gonna exchange my 16pm again within 14 days
 
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So the best advice is to hold off on buying now. It’s a frigging lottery at the moment.
Too much issues at the moment (camera, display and now speakers). Its just ridiculous. Am an Apple fanboy and deep in the eco system. In this household are 3 iPad's, 2 MacBooks, Apple TV, multiple iPhones, multiple AirPods pro, multiple Apple watches and I think I'm forgetting some.
But I think Apple doesn't care any more and things are changing fast. Last Macbook pro, iPad pro, Airpods pro and iPhone 16 pro max had all quality issues and came damaged out of the box. There is something going on and it is getting worse imo.

Im sure I'm going to get flamed by a few fanboys but I don't care. Apple isnt what it used to be and its getting worse by the year.
 
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Furrr said:
So the best advice is to hold off on buying now. It’s a frigging lottery at the moment.
Too much issues at the moment (camera, display and now speakers). Its just ridiculous. Am an Apple fanboy and deep in the eco system. In this household are 3 iPad's, 2 MacBooks, Apple TV, multiple iPhones, multiple AirPods pro, multiple Apple watches and I think I'm forgetting some.
But I think Apple doesn't care any more and things are changing fast. Last Macbook pro, iPad pro, Airpods pro and iPhone 16 pro max had all quality issues and came damaged out of the box. There is something going on and it is getting worse imo.

Im sure I'm going to get flamed by a few fanboys but I don't care. Apple isnt what it used to be and its getting worse by the year.
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I agree with you, 3 out of my last 7 iPhones were defective. iPhone 8 and 2 iPhone XR’s
 
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Mistletoe66 said:
So i bought a 16 pm with battery manufactured date of July 2024. It had Bluetooth disconnection issue, getting hot and drains battery with no apps open, aod off, etc etc,

Today I’ve exchanged it with a newer one (battery manufactured date of September 2024). Will monitor the Bluetooth issue and heat issue. However I noticed that the sound quality playing from my music playlist seems kind of subpar. I could detect that it is playing “lower” quality music as compared to my 15 plus and my July 2024 batch 16 ôm

Just want to ask if anyone Detected poorer quality iPhone 16 pro max in their speaker as well?
Click to expand...
This is horrible, especially on such an expensive phone. I had issues years back with an iPhone XR. They replaced the screen and blamed me. At then end of it, they sent me a refurbished phone which I gave away. I would never use a refurbished phone, to me it’s disgusting 🤮.
 
I don’t know anyone buying the 16 this year. I almost always upgrade, but not this year.

I am heavily invested in Apple so that makes me sad on one hand, but on the other, I greatly prefer that customers vote with their wallets since that’s the only signal that matters to Apple and I think will drive longer term quality and market success. I’m not day trading Apple. I’m 98.5% certain that they will make me lots of money long term. 😉
 
On my fifth 16PM, the first four all had subpar displays (uniformity issues, off axis shift, red patches at low brightness, etc.). This one is near perfect, speakers are great, battery manufactured October 2024, made in China.

Just keep returning until you get the quality device you paid for. It’s a lottery as usual although this year it seems to be worse.
 
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Is this just early production problems? If so, if a person waited until January or February to buy a 16 series would these problems probably be resolved by then?
 
ab2c4 said:
Is this just early production problems? If so, if a person waited until January or February to buy a 16 series would these problems probably be resolved by then?
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The above issues should be resolved by that time.

I don't think it is a made in India issue, although if you ask me, the apple watch 8 that was made in China appears to be better quality than the apple watch 8 that was made in Vietnam; however, my Ultra 2 (made in Vietnam appears to be better in quality so I guess it took ~ 1 year to resolve the issues.

This is another reason why I don't buy products when they just released. Learned it the hard way with a 2019 Acura RDX and will not do this ever again.
 
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Alexrat1996 said:
OCD At the finest enjoy your phone mine made in India no issues
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I don't believe the origin of production makes any difference. The panel and speaker lottery are both real issues. On light or especially white backgrounds, when half of my screen is white and the other half is red or green tinted, that's a problem and I don't accept that considering the phone costs $1400 (16PM 512gb).
 
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Harthag said:
I don't believe the origin of production makes any difference. The panel and speaker lottery are both real issues. On light or especially white backgrounds, when half of my screen is white and the other half is red or green tinted, that's a problem and I don't accept that considering the phone costs $1400 (16PM 512gb).
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That’s terrible. No one should have to put up with such a poor quality screen. I feel bad for you, considering the high cost of the iPhone. I had issues in the past with an iPhone display, Apple blamed me , then sent me a refurbished phone which I gave away.
 
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Tbh mines a launch model 16pm and has zero issues, what I can say compared to the 14PM the screen feels better, colour accuracy seems spot on, like its as expected(I work in photo and video), the sound has a completely different profile being much much louder with bass and a sharp top end. But yeah zero issues on mine.
 
I had charging issues with my launch day Pro, but the “Second batch” replacement has been rock solid. It’s all a bit of a lottery in terms of getting a lemon, especially when we’re talking millions of iPhones made and sold around the world.
 
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