New iPhone 4S has a dead camera

[Rob.G]

I got my wife today a shiny new iPhone 4S today. It took exactly six photos and the camera quit. The shutter is closed. The Facetime camera works fine, WHEN the option to use it even appears.

I've tried everything... rebooting, shutting down all other apps, I even did a wipe/restore. No change. We went back to the Apple Store prior to this and they didn't have a phone in stock to swap it for, but said they likely would tomorrow. So we have a 12:30 appt to go back. If they can exchange it, great. If not, it's probably getting returned and I'll get her a new Galaxy Nexus instead.

I did some Googling and this appears to be a pretty common problem, going all the way back to the iPhone 4. It's very disappointing too. I had just gotten her a new 13" MacBook Pro, which she's loving, and we liked the idea of her having an iPhone because of all the integration. But now, we're both miffed.

Anybody else here seen this problem? Any ideas we can try to see if there's any chance of making the camera work? I saw one YouTube video about holding your finger over the front camera, but that didn't do it either.

Rob

 

[wrinkster22]

I am sorry to year of your problem. Unfortuanaley this is an issue just like the hinge was an issue on the original macbook airs and the backlight bleeding on iPad 2's. I assure you though apple will make it right, Keep in mind when 100 000 are being made a day some are going to have defects. I think that the QC has gone done too as I returned 2 macbook airs... while still have a fully functional iPod from 2004. But good luck!

 

[Rob.G]

Thanks... yeah it's a bit of a bummer. I'm eager to play with it more myself and see if I might want to get one to replace my Android phone.

Rob

 

[Vanillagorila]

Mine was doing the same thing yesterday? Luckily I kept trying and now it works (shutter opens) fine.

 

[Katalysis]

There is a large thread on the Apple forums discussing this issue. I have had it as well. The camera goes in and out, sometimes one works and the other doesn't, shutter image stays closed, etc. There is a lengthy post addressing how to determine if this is a software, firmware, or hardware issue, but I have not tried it yet.

Sounds like a software/firmware issue. I would assume if it was hardware the camera wouldn't work at all. Mine has come back to working.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/16380205