Apple has admitted to a microphone bug in select iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models who have iOS 11.3 installed.
MacRumors obtained a document sent to Apple authorised service providers saying affected customers might experience a ‘greyed-out speaker button during phone calls’. Apple also says this could also happen during FaceTime video calls.
The document tells the service providers to tell customers to disconnect any Bluetooth headsets or other audio accessories paired with the iPhone to see if that ‘alleviates the problem’. If the speaker button is still greyed out, the service providers should then run audio diagnostics. Affected devices will show a ‘device could not detect dock’ or ‘accessory not supported’ alert in diagnostic pane.
If a customer’s phone is not under warranty the Apple authorised service provider can request an exception due to this bug. No word on whether the repair will be free but MacRumors is more than certain it would be.
Complaints for this issue can be seen on various blog communities such as Apple Support Community and Reddit. These posts show this issue has been happening over the past few months.