Is your iPhone 7 Plus’s camera malfunctioning and showing you a black screen? You’re not the only one with the problem.
A number of people are reporting their iPhone 7 Plus cameras are “breaking”, with the rear camera(s) lenses only showing a black screen, or flashes of green or purple.
Reddit user “teryakiwok” says his iPhone 7 Plus’ showed the aforementioned symptoms and took it to an Apple store and had it replaced.
“…took the handset in to the store and the guy said ‘yep, seen this before’ ….. anyway he said we have a load of cameras in stock ready to replace so i said sorry my good man I would like my flagship telecommunications device replacing. Long story short I’m now dealing with Apple CS, but in my defense the ‘Genius’ did say he wouldn’t accept a repair if it was his phone,” teryakiwok wrote.
Another Reddit user named “tripler6” who had the same camera problem said an Apple store Genius told him “it was the shutter and replaced the entire phone.”
“I took it in and they changed the camera on mine not a complete phone replacement,” wrote Reddit user “Itzmike.”
A search on Twitter and on popular Apple forums such as MacRumors shows other iPhone 7 Plus users reporting the same camera issues as far back as October, so it’s unlikely the result of updating to the latest iOS 10.2.
“Well yesterday morning my iPhone 7 Plus camera shutter appeared have become faulty,” wrote MacRumors user “Jukens.” “Every time I opened the camera app I was greeted with a black screen when using the rear facing camera.”
It’s possible the issues are only affecting a small batch of devices and not a widespread defect. Mashable has reached out to Apple for comment on the issue and will update this story if we receive a response.
Reddit user “eyesee” believes it could be a loose cable that’s causing the camera blackouts, but their conclusion is by no means conclusive.
“Sounds like an internal flex connector is loose or damaged,” the user wrote. “That could explain the green/purple images (some data lines disconnected), or the invalid overtemp warnings (thermistor disconnected).”
The iPhone 7 Plus is the first iPhone with dual rear cameras; one regular wide-angle lens and a second telephoto lens. With the latter, users can get 2x optical zoom without losing any picture details.
The secondary lens also works with the phone’s exclusive “Portrait mode” to create a bokeh effect (blurred out, de-focused background) for sharper photos that Apple says rivals DSLR pictures.
Are you having black screen/color tinting issues with your iPhone 7 Plus camera? Let us know by tweeting us @mashabletech.
