The issue isn't affecting voice calling on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max
While Apple is yet to acknowledge the charging issues reported by some users, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are now said to have an issue with the earpiece speaker that randomly stops functioning. Once again reported by some users, the issue reportedly doesn't emerge during voice calls, though it impacts music playback on the latest iPhone models. The affected users have reported the problem on the Apple Community site as well as explained its presence in multiple tweets and Reddit threads. It appears that the issue comes through a software bug since it doesn't impact voice calls, and a reboot fixes the problem temporarily. To recall, like most recent iPhone models, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max feature stereo speakers, with one located in the earpiece, and the other at the bottom panel of the smartphones.
Some users have complained about the earpiece speaker issue on the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. The issue essentially impacts the stereo audio playback functionality of the latest iPhone models as it suddenly stops the earpiece speaker from playing the audio. "I just got my [iPhone] XS Max couple of days ago, and when I was playing a song through Spotify, I noticed it was only playing through one channel," one of the affected users wrote in a post on the Apple Community site. Similar complaints are spread across Reddit and Twitter. The reports were first highlighted by PiunikaWeb.
Some users have found a reboot as a temporary fix. However, the issue reoccurs after some time in most of the cases. The problem notably hasn't been noticed during voice calls. This suggests that there could be a software bug creating the issue. Furthermore, it appears that the issue is largely impacting the iPhone XS Max as there are comparatively a fewer iPhone XS users who have so far complained about the faulty earpiece speaker.
One of the affected users has even uploaded a video on YouTube to detail the issue. The video shows that the top speaker on an iPhone XS Max doesn't function while playing a video on YouTube. The narrator in the video says that he reached out to Apple, but the company told him to do a factory reset that didn't solve the problem.
Apple hasn't yet acknowledged the issue. Having said that, an iOS update can be expected to fix the bug. Some users on the iOS 12.1 beta, however, reported that the issue persists on the latest iOS build as well.
We've reached out to Apple for a comment on the issue and will update this space accordingly. Meanwhile, as some users noticed, if you're facing the earpiece speaker bug on your iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max, you can perform a reboot to temporarily fix the issue.
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