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iPhone 17 Pro Max Crackling noise by the left speaker when charging cable plugged in

2026-01-12_17-06-00.png


Reported the issue a few months ago and just got a response from Apple that it should have been addressed.
 
Trying to recreate this on my 17PM but can’t seem to - I have it plugged in, screen on, tried using TikTok, with my ear right by the usb port and speaker holes I can’t hear anything at all?
 
martin2345uk said:
Trying to recreate this on my 17PM but can’t seem to - I have it plugged in, screen on, tried using TikTok, with my ear right by the usb port and speaker holes I can’t hear anything at all?
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What charger are you using and is your charge over 80%? Not that the last detail should matter but it could be louder at times.

When was the unit build? You can check via battery settings.
 
I’m using an Apple charger, though it’s lightning so I have a little USBC dongle on the end of it. Current charge is 70%. Manufacture date November 2025.
 
martin2345uk said:
I’m using an Apple charger, though it’s lightning so I have a little USBC dongle on the end of it. Current charge is 70%. Manufacture date November 2025.
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Im not sure if the lightning convertor limits the charge current power. I have read that low current chargers do not generate the sound. You could try using a direct usb c cable from a different charger just to test it.

Is the Apple charger a low current one, anyways to try using an usb c cable that was provided in the box into a usb c charger? for example an high power usb c laptop port.
 
t0rqx said:
Im not sure if the lightning convertor limits the charge current power. I have read that low current chargers do not generate the sound. You could try using a direct usb c cable from a different charger just to test it.

Is the Apple charger a low current one, anyways to try using an usb c cable that was provided in the box into a usb c charger? for example an high power usb c laptop port.
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I have tried again with a purely USB-C cable and what is meant to be a high wattage Anker charger (40w), and with my ear to the base of the phone in a silent room I can hear absolutely nothing, both with the screen on and off.
 
martin2345uk said:
I have tried again with a purely USB-C cable and what is meant to be a high wattage Anker charger (40w), and with my ear to the base of the phone in a silent room I can hear absolutely nothing, both with the screen on and off.
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Sounds like you really have a good working one. Its hard to believe. But good to hear you dont have it.

What country you bought it and is it esim or physical sim version?
 
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Coil/speaker “whine” while charging and scrubbing videos. Has Apple acknowledged this issue or is it being swept under the rug because it’s a design flaw? There were reports it’d be fixed with a software update but here we are with 26.2.1 and obviously nothing has been done about it so I doubt it’s a software issue.
 
Gagaohlala said:
My 15 PM is silent too.

Well took an appointment this week to see what the Genius Bar people will say about it…
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They all do it. Replacement won’t change anything. They stopped acknowledging that it’s an issue and it’ll only be resolved silently later this year with the release of the iPhone 18 series.
 
Purchased in mid-February. The battery info indicates a December manufacture date. There is absolutely no static noise during charging. I'm not sure what iOS version was installed out of the box, but during the initial setup, it immediately prompted me to update to 26.3. I went through two other units before this one — you can read more about my experience with them here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-pro-17-pro-max-and-air.2466900/post-34431387
 
WishfulSinful said:
Purchased in mid-February. The battery info indicates a December manufacture date. There is absolutely no static noise during charging. I'm not sure what iOS version was installed out of the box, but during the initial setup, it immediately prompted me to update to 26.3. I went through two other units before this one — you can read more about my experience with them here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-pro-17-pro-max-and-air.2466900/post-34431387
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So you are saying it is fixed?

Assuming you know the sound and how it is soft at times?

Have you tried different scenarios like playing music, games or videos maybe even heavy cpu tasks?
 
t0rqx said:
So you are saying it is fixed?

Assuming you know the sound and how it is soft at times?

Have you tried different scenarios like playing music, games or videos maybe even heavy cpu tasks?
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I tried recording sound while it was charging, but the waveform(sound graphic) was completely flat. I also tried an empty Discord room with the volume at maximum, and I couldn't hear any noise. I'm going to install Death Stranding now and play for 30 minutes; I’ll provide an update in this thread later.

Do you have any suggestions? Is there a specific app or scenario you want me to test?

update: I could hear it while the game was installing. It was a very faint/tiny/low noise, almost impossible to hear. Then I decided to reconnect the cable; at first, the noise was very noticeable, but in less than a second, it faded back into that same tiny noise that is really hard to notice. I guess it’s a hardware issue that Apple has almost fixed, but it’s still there. With that said, I will be returning this unit as well and wait for 18 pro or buying regular 17 with very big discount in spring/summer. But it's such a shame, because screen was almost perfect.
 
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WishfulSinful said:
I tried recording sound while it was charging, but the waveform(sound graphic) was completely flat. I also tried an empty Discord room with the volume at maximum, and I couldn't hear any noise. I'm going to install Death Stranding now and play for 30 minutes; I’ll provide an update in this thread later.

Do you have any suggestions? Is there a specific app or scenario you want me to test?

update: I could hear it while the game was installing. It was a very faint/tiny/low noise, almost impossible to hear. Then I decided to reconnect the cable; at first, the noise was very noticeable, but in less than a second, it faded back into that same tiny noise that is really hard to notice. I guess it’s a hardware issue that Apple has almost fixed, but it’s still there. With that said, I will be returning this unit as well and wait for 18 pro or buying regular 17 with very big discount in spring/summer. But it's such a shame, because screen was almost perfect.
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Yeah. I guess they cannot fix it entirely. Tried lots of units, some noisier than the other. The last ones (not sure why) were very very faint, but still there and not acceptable.

Just to be sure the static noise was that from the charging port or back of the phone?

If it was back of the phone where the SoC is located, I might consider that normal.

On a Macbook Pro when stressed you could hear the coil whine when stressed.
Thanks for the through invest and reply.
 
t0rqx said:
Just to be sure the static noise was that from the charging port or back of the phone?
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In all three units I’ve owned, the noise always came from the speaker, the higher the volume, the louder the noise became
t0rqx said:
On a Macbook Pro when stressed you could hear the coil whine when stressed.
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yeah, but I don't think this is coil whine on iPhone? or you think it could be?

I remember a long time ago, the iPhone 6 or 7 had a similar issue where people heard noise from the speaker while making calls over the cellular network
 
WishfulSinful said:
In all three units I’ve owned, the noise always came from the speaker, the higher the volume, the louder the noise became

yeah, but I don't think this is coil whine on iPhone? or you think it could be?

I remember a long time ago, the iPhone 6 or 7 had a similar issue where people heard noise from the speaker while making calls over the cellular network
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No definitely not coil whine from charging port. But if place your ear on the back of phone you could hear coilwhine from SoC. Some people mix this up. You are not.

Charging port is just a design error.

Yeah when an app accessed the speaker even when it wasnt playing sound you could hear it and it was getting noisier.
 
Gagaohlala said:
Hello, I just had my new iPhone 17 Pro Max. Everything amazing. I put it on charge last night, and when I used it back this morning, I hear a little electricity noise by the charging port when it’s plugged. The sound can almost disappear, then come back. I can only hear it if I put my ear close to the iPhone.

Update : you can hear it when the phone is charging and you unlock it from idle. Screen on, put your ear to the charging port. The sound varies as you use your phone. Noticed it even further with tiktok opened for example. Noticeably louder when phone at 100% charge. (Stock Apple cable)

I tested with my air pods pro or iPhone 15 PM, no sound at all. Should this be worrying ? Do you have the same issue ? Don’t want to go by another exchanging process idk…

Thank you have a nice day 🙂
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Any luck with 26.4?
 
i.am.lost said:
There are multiple threads about this issue on Apple Support, Reddit and Macrumors forums. It is clearly a fairly common issue with the 17 Pro/Max, and I wonder if it affects all of these devices under the right conditions: sufficiently high power charger, quiet environment, good hearing…

I’ve owned every generation of iPhone since the 3G (every Pro Max since that came out), and I have never had this issue until my 17 Pro Max. It’s pretty bad, especially when an app that uses the speaker is open. When I listen to my 16 Pro Max side-by-side it’s very obvious the 17 Pro Max has an issue.

I hope this gets some press coverage soon, and I hope even more that there can be some software fix / mitigation by Apple so I don’t have to live with it all year.
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26.4 fixed it for you?
 
I doubt that 26.4 will fix the issues.

I'm still leaning towards it being a hardware issue where the speaker is picking up noise from the cellular, WIFI, and/or bluetooth. The speaker is picking up RFI from one of those transceivers.

It will be interesting to see if people notice any difference since updating to 26.4. The issue has been ongoing since the release of the 17 Pro and Pro Max no matter what version of IOS 26 people are using.
 
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