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To follow up on my original post, my white 16GB iPhone 4S does not rattle when I shake it...I'm not sure what that means, but I've taken a few pictures with this thing and they're amazing so no harm I guess.

What about if you tap on the back of the case near the camera?
 
Try putting your finger over the silent switch then tap the back of the phone to see if it rattles

i had a small rattle. held the switch and then shook it and tapped the back. no rattle
 
Hmm. I'm really not sure what to do about this if anything. I was set to take it in and then it started sounding like it's normal. But, if I can get a new one with NO rattle that would be nice. It just bugs me.
 
I have it on my 4S, I believe it is caused by the new vibration motor.

I don't particularly mind it, although it gives the device a less "brick-like" feel.
 
Try putting your finger over the silent switch then tap the back of the phone to see if it rattles

i had a small rattle. held the switch and then shook it and tapped the back. no rattle

I tried that but it didn't make a difference.
When I hold the phone vertically and tap it only makes a rattle when i'm tapping on or near the camera. When I hold it horizontally I can tap it anywhere in the top quarter of the back of the phone and hear the rattle.
 
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I think mine is doing it too. I just tried tapping near the camera and it rattled. But my camera is working fine. So I wouldn't worry about it. Unless there's an actual problem
 
My HTC Thunderbolt has always made the noise you describe. I never worried about it. It's just a phone no need to be overly girlie about it :) Oh wait Apple has different clientele than us rugged Android Men.

Oh I got a smudge on my screen Skippy oh nooooooo
 
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I know it's stupid, but I think I'm going to take mine back when it's convenient. It rattles every time I set it down, and seems pronounced when it's vibrating (when a call is coming in) when sitting on a hard surface. I need it to feel like a solid piece. It's too expensive not to care. It's absolutely for sure coming from the corner with the camera. Putting my finger over the Mute button and tapping that same corner does nothing to stop it.
 
My HTC Thunderbolt has always made the noise you describe. I never worried about it. It's just a phone no need to be overly girlie about it :) Oh wait Apple has different clientele than us rugged Android Men.

Oh I got a smudge on my screen Skippy oh nooooooo

Nothing girlie about anything. People spend their money on a decently expensive device. Nothing wrong in making sure it works properly.
 
I've had the same issue with my ip4 for over a year now. it doesn't affect performance in any noticeable way.
 
Mine also makes the rattle when I tap it or put it down. Oddly, I cannot recreate the sound by physically shaking the phone.

Could it not just be the image stabilisation, which was added in for the iPhone 4S?
 
I just left the apple store and they said it was "free floating compass" in the iPhone 4s. Of course I didn't believe him so he made me tap on 3 or 4 of the 4s in the store and while it's not pleasant, it's at least widwspread, probably to the point of normality. The replacement that was propsed also had the rattle. Now I can sleep at night knowing its not just my phone and that there is little fix for it at the moment.

As I already had Verizon unlock my phone I chose to keep my current one. Didn't want to risk getting something that is more defective.
 
My 4S has an annoying rattle by the camera. I though it was the sleep wake button, but it's the camera. Even setting the phone down softly on carpet makes a rattle noise.
 
My 4S has an annoying rattle by the camera. I though it was the sleep wake button, but it's the camera. Even setting the phone down softly on carpet makes a rattle noise.

It's the focus of the camera, you'll notice if you open up the camera app and focus on something quite some distance from you (tap that area of the screen to focus) and then when you tap the phone once it's focused you will see no noise can be heard.
 
It's the focus of the camera, you'll notice if you open up the camera app and focus on something quite some distance from you (tap that area of the screen to focus) and then when you tap the phone once it's focused you will see no noise can be heard.


It still rattles. If I tap the bottom of the phone, no rattle. Right when I tap by the Apple logo, rattle noise.

Camera open or not. Case or no case it rattles. Pretty damn annoying especially when I set it down on soft surfaces.
 
It is - definitively - the sleep/wake button. Every iPhone 4/4s I've seen has the issue to some extent. I took it to a genius friend of mine who opened it up and noticed that the button is cut slightly too small for the hole that it's placed in.

Nothing to worry about.
 
My iPhone 4 did this for 18 months and even after being dropped several times, never stopped working or rattled more than it did when it came out of the box on day one.

It's not an issue.
 
It is - definitively - the sleep/wake button. Every iPhone 4/4s I've seen has the issue to some extent. I took it to a genius friend of mine who opened it up and noticed that the button is cut slightly too small for the hole that it's placed in.

Nothing to worry about.

I though that too until I tapped the camera. Its probably both.

So is it perfectly normal to even hear it after setting the phone down softly on carpet?
 
So can we conclude that all iPhone 4Ss have this rattling thing?

not ALL but at least 90% or more do. definitely the majority. 3 apple stores, 20 iphone 4s tests and 19 rattled.

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I though that too until I tapped the camera. Its probably both.

So is it perfectly normal to even hear it after setting the phone down softly on carpet?

yeah, i think so. like i said, some are louder than others but i dont think it is a defect. i think it is there by design since the vast majority of them do it.

iphone 4s = new camera = new noises.
 
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