Rattle inside iPhone 3G

[Titan12]

Its the Auto-Focus Mechanism

The rattle in the phone is considered normal by just about everyone I've come across. I have reason to believe it is part of the iPhones Auto-Focus mechanism. You can normally hear the rattle only when placing it down on a table, or when lightly tapping the area on the back of the phone near the camera. If you continuously tap that area and activate auto-focus at the same time, you will hear the rattle stop briefly while the camera is focusing. Give it a try...

 

[ichob GS]

Genius Bar visit response

So I went to the bar this AM because I noticed the rattle when I set my phone down. It doesn't rattle when you shake it but if you tap your fingers around the top when holding horizontal, it's pretty noticeable. Lastly, it rattles when the phone vibrates. This is my third iphone and none of the others rattled including the 16gb 3GS that I had for 3 days before exchanging to the 32gb.

The guy was stumped, said he'd take it in the back and open it up. Came back a 10 mins later and said that he looked at it and nothing was loose. He asked others in the back who have the same model and said that this is normal in this phone. The only thing I don't get is why the 32gb would rattle when the 16gb did not.

 

[Surely]

^^^^^ The secret is that they aren't actually geniuses......

The rattle in the phone is considered normal by just about everyone I've come across. I have reason to believe it is part of the iPhones Auto-Focus mechanism. You can normally hear the rattle only when placing it down on a table, or when lightly tapping the area on the back of the phone near the camera. If you continuously tap that area and activate auto-focus at the same time, you will hear the rattle stop briefly while the camera is focusing. Give it a try...

It's like talking to a wall sometimes, isn't it?

 

[chox99]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

Mine rattles when I shake it hard. It's near the camera I think. It's quite common and minor that you might reconsider exchange it for refurb. Refurbs have notorious w/ small defects like light leak, dust under glass and etc.

 

[ichob GS]

I think the auto focus theory may be a pretty good one. Although, I don't get why it wouldn't do it on the 16GB 3GS that I had and would on the 32GB. Applecare said they think that it's the accelorometer but it shouldn't be too noticable. They suggested going back to the apple store and speaking to someone else. The guy could hear mine rattle while I was speaking to him on the phone and tapped it. He said that another person in the office has a rattle too but not that loud.

 

[AbSoluTc]

I believe the rattle also has something to do with the camera. I took out my sim and the same rattle was their. I find it really odd, but it doesn't bother me.

 

[phillipjfry]

Yeah it still rattles even if i hold all the buttons.

+1 take it back

 

[Mikey B]

I must post this in this thread, as well:

Your iPhone is NOT supposed to have anything rattling inside. Ever.

 

[Clete2]

Mine rattles. I'm not concerned.

Accelerometer: It's a box-shaped chip; no movement
Camera: I have 3G so no autofocus or any moving parts.
Vibrator: Moves during normal operation.... hmmmmmm

Guess which one rattles? Normal operation.

 

[ragweedultra]

I have the solution to all of your problems.

It's not the accelerometer inside the phone, it's actually the switch on top and the silent switch. Hold down the top as if you were turning it off while holding firmly on the silent switch and shake it by your ear. Obviously it's normal for all iPhones to have this rattle. My new iPhone 4 has it as well.

 

[Surely]

It's not the accelerometer inside the phone, it's actually the switch on top and the silent switch. Hold down the top as if you were turning it off while holding firmly on the silent switch and shake it by your ear. Obviously it's normal for all iPhones to have this rattle. My new iPhone 4 has it as well.

Not.