iPhone 12 Pro Portrait Mode/Telephoto Lens stops working

[mlx52]

All,

Looking for some advice here, earlier this week my iPhone 12 Pro stopped working in portrait mode (thought it was software related at first). Remote diagnostics with Apple showed that the telephoto lens had stopped working. Brought it into the Apple Store and they replaced on the spot. Checked portrait mode and all was working as expected. Charge the phone overnight and once again it seems like the telephoto lens has stopped working. The only new addition to my set up is with the Apple Duo Magsafe wireless charger. Is there a possibility the charger is frying the camera. Has anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks all!

 

[ericwn]

Wireless chargers cause some heat but the camera module should not be affected in theory.

When you say the lens stops working, what does that actually mean in operation? Can you be more specific on what the issue is?

 

[mlx52]

Apple's diagnostic tests show the telephoto lens failing. Another way I've manually tested it, putting a finger over the bottom camera in portrait mode on my iPhone 11 Pro impacts the image. Doing so on the iPhone 12 with the failed lens does nothing to distort the picture. This was true with my old iPhone 12 Pro and the replacement I got yesterday when I woke up this morning.

 

[ericwn]

Same issue after a day? Hm, that sounds suspiciously like not hardware related but buggy. Did you apply a backup after your initial tests showed it worked?

 

[mlx52]

I applied a backup and it worked before and after. I've also tried doing a full reset to both phones, starting from scratch on a blank phone doesn't fix the problem.

To me, it doesn't seem logical that a full reset of the phone would still be causing the error, correct? Happy to set the 2nd replacement up as fresh and keep it that way. I'm just worried Apple is going to flag me if I keep coming in with the same issue and not sure they could trace it to the wireless charger.

 

[ericwn]

Your logic seems rock solid. If you run through erase and install, then enter no user data no Apple if, apply no backup etc and go to the Home Screen ASAP and if then the issue is still there it’s likely hardware.