iPhone 13 Pro Max iPhone 13 Pro Max - ear speaker sounds "tinny"

[gr8hii]

I've been using my phone for 2-3 days and have noticed that, when I talk to somebody while holding the phone, the ear speaker is very "tinny" sounding. It's most pronounced on "s" sounds. It sounds like the person on the other end is taking their phone and rubbing it across their pants. It's almost like a static accompanies every sound. Now that I've heard it, I can't un-hear it. I've swapped back to my Xs and the sound is much better. I've tried at home on wifi and out and about on 5G. I've reset the phone and no change. I know all of my ringtones sounded different with the phone, but I had written that off as the difference you get when jumping from XS to the 13pro. Now, I'm starting to think the speaker has trouble. I contacted Apple and my options were to a) have BestBuy crack it open and look at it (no apple store near me) or b) send it to Apple and let them crack it open and look at it. I'm not happy about having a 3 day old phone getting taken apart. They said my final option was to return and re-purchase. I'll either do that or just suck up the sound and trade it in on a refurb through AppleCare in a month or two. Anybody else hearing subpar speaker performance?

 

[zimbo76]

Both my phone and wife’s phone sound terrible. It is awful. The quality it really bad. Going to return the phones tomorrow and try new ones.

 

[jcp007]

My iPhone 13 Pro Max sounds much better than my iPhone 12 Pro Max. The sound is much fuller but it's still a smartphone speaker. Having a Bang & Olufsen speaker might have drastically upped the iPhone 13 Pro Max price even for the base storage model.

 

[gr8hii]

Both my phone and wife’s phone sound terrible. It is awful. The quality it really bad. Going to return the phones tomorrow and try new ones.

Please let me know if you have luck. I called apple and they can’t swap due to no stock.

 

[sneeks]

I’ve not noticed any issue with my 13 PM.

 

[LFC2020]

Sounds great here, even better than my 12 pro max, return it, must have a defective model.

 

[Hoss713]

I'm having the same problem. I only started to notice it in the last day or so... I'm wondering if iOS 15.1 is the cause.

Edit: I just reverted back to 15.0.2 and the problem still exists.

 

[jcp007]

My 13 Pro Max is on iOS 15.1. No issues here.

 

[Womback]

Same exact thing here with my new iphone13. On top of people sounding tinny, they say I sound tinny to them. Sucks!

 

[primadiva]

Just picked up my new iPhone 13 Pro. Same issue. I also have some damage to my ears, so the tinny sound feels like a spike being driven into my ear, it's so painful. I've had it an hour and I really think it must go back.

Anyone else have luck exchanging?

 

[Fred Zed]

It’s probably that rubbish they call HD calling plus. The audio gets so tinny. Same with Samsung phones. Both being used on T-Mobile USA.