Some Defective Apple iPhone 12 Cases Shipping Without Speaker Holes

At least two customers who have purchased iPhone 12 cases have received defective cases that do not have speaker holes, which obscures the sound.

nospeakerholesiphone12case1


There have been two separate threads on Reddit from ‌iPhone‌ 12 customers who purchased a case and received one without speaker holes.

One customer was told by an Apple advisor that the case wasn't meant to have speaker holes, which is, of course, incorrect. One of the original posters uploaded a video showing the defective case from more angles.

nospeakerholesiphone12case2


There have been limited reports about cases with no speaker holes, but anyone who receives one should be able to get a replacement case from Apple by contacting Apple's support staff or visiting a retail store location.

The majority of the cases that are being sent out to customers do indeed have speaker holes by design, with the non-speaker hole cases representing a clear manufacturing defect.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
m4 macbook air pink

Apple Now Selling Refurbished M4 MacBook Air Models

Friday June 13, 2025 3:34 pm PDT by
Apple today added M4 MacBook Air models to its refurbished store in the United States, making the latest MacBook Air devices available at a discounted price for the first time since they launched earlier this year. Both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models are available, with Apple offering multiple capacities and configurations. The refurbished devices are discounted by approximately 15...

Top Rated Comments

JPack Avatar
61 months ago
You're supposed to manually punch your own holes, for environmental reasons. To save manufacturing energy consumption.
Score: 156 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mysterydate Avatar
61 months ago
You have to buy the speaker holes separately if you need them, as most everyone already has speaker holes from older iPhones.

Makes sense.
Score: 81 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DiamondarBoss Avatar
61 months ago
Thats Fine! Who needs speakers anyway? Just use the EarPods that were included in the box! Oh wait....
Score: 62 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Prof. Avatar
61 months ago
It’s just a DIY kit. No big deal. ;)
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mingistech Avatar
61 months ago
That will suck for the people that don't notice the missing holes and think their iPhone 12 speakers sound like poo poo.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BSoares Avatar
61 months ago
You have to pay $60. The $50 case comes with no holes.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)