The iPhone XS Has A Serious Problem...

That's a lot of iPhones on the table and there's a good reason for it

I woke up this morning to an email saying, Lou, I need your help big time

And I was like, what could this possibly be about? This one seems significant

I'm ready to make you aware of a huge issue with the new iPhone XS Max

When the phone is idle and asleep, it will not recognize the lightning jack and therefore will not charge the phone

It is only after you wake the device up that it recognizes the cable is plugged in

I'm trying to reach someone on a bigger platform to make this issue known to Apple

so they can at least let customers know that they're aware of it. Now, this email came along with a link to the discussions.apple.com

That's Apple's official forums where there are many, many messages of people experiencing this same issue

And when I saw this, I'm like, I have to investigate. What's he talking about? I've been using the iPhone XS Max and I didn't notice anything

But, I've been using it exclusively with wireless charging. So I was like, oh man, this could be a big problem

Are people really unable to charge their new smartphones? Are we on the verge of some kind of charge gate situation

So, I got all the iPhone XS and XS Maxes that we have in the studio to figure out how widespread this issue actually is

I've also got an iPhone 10 here running iOS 12 to see if it's strictly related to the operating system

this issue that people are supposedly having. I'll give you a quick breakdown on the complaint as it stands

Some say that when the lightning cable is plugged in to an idle iPhone

an iPhone just sitting on a table, it will not charge. Others are saying that if you tap on the phone and wake it up after the insertion of the lightning cable

then it will begin to charge. Others are having an even worse issue

where it just won't recognize the cable, they have to flip it over

and even waking the device up with the lightning cable inserted will not create an effective charge

This is some crazy stuff. I haven't seen something exactly like this

definitely not on an iPhone launch that I aware of I noticed that there were a couple of individuals in fact many requests for someone like me to make a video on this Because up until now it appears that Apple doesn really have an official response

In some cases, it looks like they have replaced devices, but then those new devices have exhibited the same issue

So, responding to those people on a platform like this should bring light to it

and hopefully some sort of a software fix, if possible, to address this sooner than later

First things first, let's put all of these iPhones into their locked state

In the top corner here, I have an iPhone X. That is, of course, to compare what usually happens or should happen

when you plug in an iPhone to the wall outlet. Now, we have standard power here straight from the wall to this extension cord

followed by this power brick. This is the one that ships in the box with the iPhone XS and XS Max

And this is the lightning cable that is also in there. That said, we have tested this issue with third-party bricks, third-party cables

as well as Apple's own 29-watt more powerful charge brick. The issue is not anywhere here regarding the charger or the cable itself

So here we go. iPhone X, regular iPhone X. We've all seen this

We're used to it. This is what you would expect to happen when you plug in an iPhone. Boom

Pops up right away. You're aware, you're confident that your device is charging

You can go to sleep now. You'll be fine. Now if I come down here to the iPhone XS, this is the first in our group

Now the reason we have so many phones is because we want to see the behavior of each one

to maybe get an idea of how widespread this issue actually is

So this is the first iPhone XS. I'll plug it in. Starts to charge right away

That's what you would hope to see. Okay, cool. How about the next one? The 10S Max

No charge. It should pop up of course. If it was charging, it even makes a tone

and you see the icon to indicate. Now what about if I tap on this one

It starts to charge So there something to do with the sleep mode or the idle mode that for some reason is blocking the charge current from coming through or at least the battery from receiving the charge

This is the most common version of this issue that I've seen. This is the exact issue that's

affecting people because they're just plugging it in, going to sleep, and waking up and it was never charging the entire time. This is another issue that's happening. When plugged in, look at

this, it refuses to wake up. I've noticed this happening also. So sometimes it will effectively

get the charge, but the entire phone will freeze. And this will just be in some weird state for a

while now. Plug it back in. Another 10S Max. No charge. What if I tap it? Boom. Starts to charge

right away. As soon as it jumps out of sleep, the charge can take place. Let's keep it moving

Next one up. Another 10S Max. That one charges immediately for some reason

Who knows why? Let's move down to the next one. No charge

Another 10S Max with the issue. Let's see if we can get a 10S to behave like these Maxes

where it's actually not taking a charge upon insertion of the cable. Okay, this device right here, no charge

What if I pick it up? Starts to charge. Very bizarre. It appears it's not isolated to 10S Maxes

Let's try this next one. Instant Charge. Next one. No Charge. That's another regular 10S

Not charging. What if I tap it? Then it starts to charge. This is so weird

There are some people that have stated that it won't start a charge later on

It will look like it's charging temporarily or say that it's charging and then it'll stop

And it won't kick back in. Some people are saying they have the issue to the extent that they'll have to reinsert the cable or flip the cable around to actually get an effective charge

Okay, this 10s max has been asleep for a bit. Let's plug it in

Even though I'm holding it, still not alive. I tap it, still not charging

So this one has actually exhibited the worst problems of the bunch and I think if you have a phone like this one this is a nightmare You now plugged in The phone awake and it still not charging Show them that it plugged in Jack Plugged in Is it a software problem

Is it a hardware problem? My gut is telling me it's software. I sure hope it's software

You can read up on this. It appears that Apple does not have an official response

as of now. I know a lot of you guys out in the audience, you're like, Lou, why do you keep coming at us

with these various smartphone issues? What are you doing bringing this stuff to light

There's a lot of Apple fans out there. This is in no way condemning the entire device

That's not the goal here. The fact is there are real humans experiencing this issue who spent their money, good money

to get these devices and they're not behaving in the way that those people expected

The ability to recharge your phone confidently, I mean, that's like step one

That is a key ingredient to your smartphone experience. And if these people aren't getting a response or a refund or some kind of solution, many of them who got a replacement, they continue to experience the same thing

Then it's up to platforms like this one, people like us, to escalate the situation so that it gets a better response

Eight devices on the table and they're all exhibiting some form of the issue, some worse than others

This 10S Max here is the worst of the bunch, where it usually exhibits a no charge situation, followed by no charge even after waking it up

If you are an owner of one of these devices, the new 10S or 10S Max, do this test yourself

See if your device is charging in a weird way. If so, hopefully this comment section can act as an update, a conversation about what's happening

Maybe there are workarounds that you've found. Leave those comments down below

Look, this is my job. I got to call this stuff out. You got to hold these companies accountable

Ultimately, customers, you guys, that's who I answer to. You nominated me for this position

I'm not going to help them sweep it under the rug. You guys need solutions if you're experiencing this issue

That's why the original email was sent. That's why the threads are out there. Hopefully, this can elevate the situation and we can find a solution

You nominated me for the job. So that's what I'm going to do