iPhone 5s headphone jack corrosion

[Sierra]

I'm amazed how fast this is happening! Do you live near the beach (still don't see how it could react so quickly).

We had to be careful with dissimilar metals on an AFB along the coast, but nothing ever reacted that quickly. There seems to be a larger issue here!

 

[Skull One]

Running tests on my iPhone 5S right now. Have my headphones plugged in and the volume set to max to drive the most current possible through the connection. Will be checking the connection points every 20 minutes. Started with 99% battery charge. When I hit 50%, will plug in the charger and continue the test.

As of right now, I can not think of a single way this can be done without an outside catalyst. But then again, the last time I did anything serious with chemistry was around 26 years ago when I was dealing with similar issue with a ground grid at a military facility. So I may be overlooking something completely.

 

[codysanborn]

Running tests on my iPhone 5S right now. Have my headphones plugged in and the volume set to max to drive the most current possible through the connection. Will be checking the connection points every 20 minutes. Started with 99% battery charge. When I hit 50%, will plug in the charger and continue the test.

As of right now, I can not think of a single way this can be done without an outside catalyst. But then again, the last time I did anything serious with chemistry was around 26 years ago when I was dealing with similar issue with a ground grid at a military facility. So I may be overlooking something completely.

I think there has to be something causing the reaction.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk Edit

 

[Skull One]

After three twenty minute runs, I am now doing hour runs. Nothing so far.

 

[golfinglenn]

I use my headphones all the time and at close to full volume. Mine looks good as new and it is around bleach and muriatic acid for the pool and hot tub. You can rule those out lol.

 

[Skull One]

3 hours at full volume and still nothing.

 

[codysanborn]

Still nothing?

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk Edit

 

[Johneb2]

3 hours at full volume and still nothing.

For what it is worth, I used mine yesterday for 5 hours while driving. I had the headphone jack hooked up to the radio via an aux cable. I checked it this morning and it is okay

 

[Sierra]

Yeah they replaced the headphones too.

And the new headphones are also discolored and have deposits (same as the previous ones)

I wonder if this is batch related. Did you purchase from the same Apple Store? Not everybody uses headphones, in fact I use the Shure earbuds w/ integrated mic. But not very often since I'm not thrilled with the sound quality, but I plug my trusty iPhone 4 into my Dodge Dakota AUX connector to listen on the road all the time. It's a gold connector, but I definitely don't live in a corrosive environment in Tahoe.

I still can't get my head around why this is happening so quickly. Did you have a previous iPhone prior to the 5s which did not suffer from such a failure?

Just curious, do you live in a humid environment? Not saying humidity could cause such an accelerated failure, but if a previous iPhone model never did this, and your replacement is suffering the same consequences this must be a design flaw or the store has a batch of phones that suffered from some plating anomaly during manufacturing.

It sounds like you are using Apple issued earbuds since the replaced them too. I would be suspicious if this was a 3rd party earphones, but does not seem to be the case.

If not the iPhone then you must have a corrosive personality

Seriously, I would be very upset!

 

[pepelino224]

Could you send some pics of headphone jack, i mean jack itself where the rings are, i want to have a look for its colour. Thanks

 

[gavinj]

I noticed my jack over the weekend is beginning to corrode as well, but in addition to that, the silver polished area appears to be doing it as too, about six spots. I have had it in a bumper since I bought it Sept 30. I plan on taking it into a Apple Store today, but don't know how lucky I will be at getting a quick replacement since it's a 64 silver. The headphone jack looks like it has a bit of rust on it too.

I was running with my phone this weekend, but I ran with my 4S for two years without any issues.

 

[Col.bris]

Interesting thread. I have searched across forums it seems this forum is the only one reporting the issue. I wish to thank the members whom have provided detail pictures. As a general statement this may be an isolated batch problem so let's not go into panic mode. I suggest any iphone 5s user that observes the same type of problem take the phone direct to an Apple,store.

Thanks Colin

 

[xrayeyes]

Gavinj, was this an OEM headphone?

 

[gavinj]

Yes, the headphones were OEM, and I agree, I think this is an isolated issue as I too searched online for this problem. I even asked three other people if I was crazy and showed them my phone before posting here and going to the Apple store.

The Apple tech hesitantly replaced my phone yesterday. He said I should have to pay the $79 for water damage if that was indeed corrosion, but said he and the other tech couldn't tell for sure what that was, and maybe the paint was flaking. (What?!) In all fairness, I don't know what it was either, but I told him that was ridiculous considering Apple itself has used a guy running along the SF Embarcadero in its marketing, and I have only taken it running three times.
What matters is he replaced the phone, I did have Apple Care+ and he didn't charge me for it, I did however buy new headphones. It would be one thing if I were coming up on two years of Apple Care+ and trying to game the program, but it was less than two weeks in. Fingers crossed it doesn't happen again.

 

[Col.bris]

I have forwarded this thread to Apple iPhone Telstra dealers (Australia) not one has observed this issue. I suspect the problem is the headphones but cannot confirm that.