The camera is certainly one of the outstanding features of the iPhone 7 Plus. The dual-lens camera combines the power of a 12 MP wide-angle lens and 12 MP telephoto lens to create magnificent bokeh shots.
Unfortunately, it now appears that the unit's camera application is giving a couple of users a headache.
iPhone 7 Plus Camera Malfunctioning
Reddit user teryakiwok started a thread titled "iPhone 7 Plus Cameras are dying" to report an error message that indicates "Emergency iPhone needs to cool down" when starting the camera app, even if the phone in question was not heating up.
Fellow iPhone users replied in the thread that they have experienced a similar issue and had it resolved at one of Apple's Genius Bars.
Other people meanwhile reported on social media that the camera of the iPhone 7 Plus displayed a total blackness on the screen instead of having an image preview. Still, others reported seeing flashes of green, blue, or purple.
A quick search on Twitter will show that the issue has been happening as early as October, so that means the recent update to iOS 10.2 is not the source of the problem. From the look of things, this could be a hardware issue affecting a small batch of units, so a software update won't be able to fix the problem, either.
Apple is offering either to repair or replace units faced with this kind of problem, so if you frequently see a black screen when activating the camera of your iPhone 7 Plus, you can drop it off at your nearest Apple Store.
Technical Glitches On Smartphones
Earlier this year, a couple of Google Pixel handsets also had a lens flare issue that Google corrected by sending out a software patch. This just goes to show that every time a new smartphone comes out, there is bound to be a problem in a handful of handsets.
Manufacturing a top-of-the-line phone in mass quantities can be a complicated process and, even though strict quality assurance programs are in place, manufacturing issues can still sneak through.
What happened to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was unfortunate, and definitely one of the worst cases of technical glitches and faulty hardware we have seen in the history of mobile devices. And while the iPhone 7 Plus camera issue is minimal compared to that of the Galaxy Note 7, this does not make it any less frustrating for mobile device users.
