iPhone 5 - Black spots on photos taken with rear camera

[mikegabriel]

I know a few people out there have experienced the same issue but I am curious if anyone might have a solution besides replacing the phone.

When using the rear camera on my iPhone 5, if I aim it any light solid colour (easiest to see it this way) there are black specks showing on the screen, they also appear on the photos when taken.

If I zoom in, they will go away (not in view of the sensor I assume) and if I zoom out they return. If I enable video, they are there as well, fixed in spot.

The problem, it starts out as one and then gradually spreads from there.

I had this happen to my first iPhone 5, there are no Apple Stores local to me (closest is 7 hours) so I called up Apple Support and paid the $30 exchange fee and had a replacement mailed out to me. About 2 weeks into using this new one, the specks have started to appear again and one week after the first one, they appear to be getting worse.

Here's a few photos that I still have on my Photo Stream from the previous iPhone

First day I noticed the spots on the original, you can see them along the white frame on the left side. Looks similar to dust

And a few days later, this is what it turned into

And then just before the replacement showed up

I had the phone replaced, it was a bit difficult to explain but in the end they did and only charged me $30 for the replacement.

Everything was good until about a week ago, top left corner and top dead center

And today

As you can see, it's spreading, probably just a matter of days before it spreads further. I guess I'll have to open another support case regarding this since it's less than a month old at this point.

 

[dictoresno]

dust and other junk in the lens. ive said this before, so ill say it again. instead of waiting on a replacement, i went to apple and the "genius" was able to clean my lens out in 5 mins. havent had an issue since.

 

[medulla]

Everything was good until about a week ago, top left corner and top dead center
Image

That's a beautiful picture..

 

[mikegabriel]

dust and other junk in the lens. ive said this before, so ill say it again. instead of waiting on a replacement, i went to apple and the "genius" was able to clean my lens out in 5 mins. havent had an issue since.

Closest store is 8 hours away.

I spoke with Apple Support again tonight and they are mailing me another replacement, hopefully it wont happen for a third time.

 

[mikegabriel]

Got my 3rd phone in the mail yesterday, this one doesn't appear to like any Lightning Cables as they are all yielding "This device does not support charging with this accessory" from 4 tested Lightning Cables.

Also my theory is dust is getting below the camera lens via the new rear microphone.

 

[Will2145]

my phone had this problem today, tried wiping it no luck...

I then tried messing with the vibration and now its gone... had the phone since October, first time I've seen this

 

[Khalil1223]

dust and other junk in the lens. ive said this before, so ill say it again. instead of waiting on a replacement, i went to apple and the "genius" was able to clean my lens out in 5 mins. havent had an issue since.

Hello
I have the same problem but i has been 1 year i have my iphone 5.
Do u think a simple cleaning of the lens will do the job?
Thank you

 

[dictoresno]

Hello
I have the same problem but i has been 1 year i have my iphone 5.
Do u think a simple cleaning of the lens will do the job?
Thank you

probably not, at least most others as you can see have to get the phone replaced. take it to apple before the one year warranty is up and see if they can do anything about it.

 

[Perfect Score]

Yeah I have the same issues as well. See the red circles in the picture below:

It's not very clear but if you make the picture darker there are visible black spots.

I was going to go to Apple store to have it checked literally half a year ago. Things happened so I still haven't gone till this day. I should definitely go before the warranty runs out.

For those who had this problem looked at by Apple, do they take your phone away to fix it or can it be done on the spot?

 

[Medic311]

my iPhone 5 has the same problem. it happened literally 2.5 weeks out of warranty. apple said i have to buy a brown box refurb for $279. they couldn't fix it with cleaning, the rear camera is defective.

a lot of people have this problem, a simple search on google and on macrumors shows that. i'm shocked that apple isn't making good on their screw up even if slightly out of warranty

it's either the dark spots or the weird stringy things . my 4S camera was perfect for 3 years