Major Sony Xperia XZ2 defect forcing users to get replacements

While Sony is yet to address the touchscreen sensitivity issues plaguing the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact flagships, we have caught hold of another issue for which buyers of the Japanese company’s latest smartphone device have been forced to get replacements.

Crackling audio from speaker

Since the launch of Sony Xperia XZ2 (in April, this year), complaints have been pouring on Xperia Support Forum (1,2,3,4) and other help forums about distorted/muffled sound from the device’s speaker, right out of the box. While majority users encounter crackling audio from the bottom speaker of the device, some face the same even with the top speaker of their unit.

A quick go through the following selection of user-complaints will give you more clarity about the matter in question:

I just got my new XZ2 and man its amazing, until the speaker went all weird. Any and all sounds when played through the speakers are muffled and distorted. I’ve done a full factory restart in case it was some sort of app that has caused the media levels to go weird but this is not the case. It sounds like the speaker has blown.

I have the same problem, one of the speakers which is on the top of the screen on full sound is distorted, looks like they put old speakers in to the phone, it sound unclear and I don’t like it.

Snap! Similar issue with my bottom speaker started yesterday. Sound is distorted when playing music, ringing, receiving notifications and even locking the phone.

I’ve gone through two phones in the last couple of days. My audio will sound ok and then sound like it’s blown out. Nothing in Safe Mode has helped me, and my diagnostics test doesn’t really solve any problem. This is also from right out of the box. So I don’t have any apps that may be affecting it.

What’s worth stressing is that majority of the complainants got the above-mentioned issue resolved by getting a replacement unit in time. In fact, some of the affected users even had to go for multiple replacements to get rid of the distorted audio glitch.

A defective batch of Xperia XZ2 units or something else? Though there’s lack of clarity on whether the crackling audio from the device’s speaker is due to a hardware defect or a software bug, replacement has reportedly been the only solution that has helped so far.

For its part, Sony hasn’t given a statement on the matter yet, but we hope they come up with one soon to give more clarity to those already suffering as well as those planning to buy the phone.

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