The first potential technical problem with Apple, Inc.’s new iPhone 7 has emerged, with some users reporting that the phone will make a hissing sound under heavy usage.

According to 512Pixels, which seemed to be the first site to write about it, the sound appears when the phone is under load and comes from the back of the phone not the built-in speaker.

The noise has since been heard by a number of other people, again while the phone is seeing heavy use. Some suggested that the noise is coming from the phone’s A10 chip in a similar way a CPU in a computer may start to make noise under a heavily load, though in this case the A10 doesn’t have a fan.

In one reported case, Apple has replaced a phone infected with the hissing problem. A recording of the noise can be best described as something between white noise from a speaker, a snake hissing and maybe outdoor creature noise in a forest with a large number of bugs.

Apple on its behalf has not commented on the issue and it’s highly unlikely it will, since it has still done nothing about the touch disease that affects the iPhone 6 models.

Manufacturing default?

While the obvious candidate remains Apple’s A10 Fusion processor, the question remains: How can a fanless chip make a noise like it seemingly does have one?

It may be too early to know what is causing it, but with sales of the new device only a couple of days old, it is highly likely that far more cases of noisy iPhone 7 and 7 Plus phones will come to light, and if and when they do that could suggest a manufacturing fault.

To Apple’s credit, the phones haven’t started catching fire like some Samsung Electronic Co. Ltd.’s Note 7 models have. But if the noise iPhone issue is as widespread as Touch Disease is on the iPhone 6, then there is going to be lots of grief for Apple moving forward from customers, and possibly more questions about Apple’s quality control systems.

Image credit: https: Pixabay/Public Domain CC0