14 DAY TRIAL // iPhone 7 Plus owners have started reporting issues affecting their cameras, which stopped working all of a sudden for no clear reason. Apple is yet to acknowledge the problem, but the company is fixing phones suffering from the issue either by replacing the camera or by offering a complete replacement.
Posts on reddit reveal that the iPhone 7 Plus cameras no longer launch and users are provided with a completely black image, so they can no longer shoot photos or record videos.
Software issues very unlikely
It’s not clear if this is a hardware or a software issue, but there is a good chance it’s hardware-related given that Apple replaces the camera modules in stores. Furthermore, there are users who claim that the exact same bug impacted their iPhones before and after updating to iOS 10.2.
“I opened up the camera app only to be met with a black image preview, sometimes I can get an image however it's either tinted green or purple and was once accompanied by a screen stating ‘Emergency iPhone needs to cool down’ when the handset wasn’t even slightly warm. I've tried hard reset and factory restore to no avail, however I've been in contact with other users with the same problem and apple had to replace their phones due to a ‘hardware fault,’” one user explains on reddit.
Additionally, another iPhone 7 Plus owner explains that Apple offered to replace only the camera module (and the internal gasket in order to maintain water resistance after opening up the phone).
The issue seems to be limited to the iPhone 7 Plus exclusively, but it’s not clear if there’s a pattern here and more devices are affected, or they’re just isolated bugs.
Since full resets and software updates make no difference, the only thing that owners of impacted iPhones can do is go to an Apple Store and have their devices fixed or replaced. Apple is yet to comment on what exactly is happening, but if it’s a widespread problem, a recall might be needed.