Why does the iPhone 7 record video in mono sound?

asdfguy

asdfguy

asdfguy

Associate
Joined
14 Sep 2014
Posts
134
I just bought the 7 Plus and I'm not very impressed with it at all. Why does a phone that costs £800 record video in mono sound? My mum's old Moto G, which costs £100, records in stereo. I want sensible answers not stupid ones like "because Apple suckz.
 
asdfguy said:
I just bought the 7 Plus and I'm not very impressed with it at all. Why does a phone that costs £800 record video in mono sound? My mum's old Moto G, which costs £100, records in stereo. I want sensible answers not stupid ones like "because Apple suckz.
Click to expand...
Because it only has one microphone that it uses to record audio.
 
Because its a money grabbing overpriced corners cut product. :)

But in seriousness, I guess it just doesn't have stereo microphones.
 
The average iPhone user would spend £700 on an iPhone 4 if it said iPhone 8 Mini on the back. :p
 
I've been aware of this limitation since the iPhone 4. I record a lot of audio using audio recording apps and the same mic is used by these as with recording video.

Keep hoping for a stereo mic but Apple just never deliver it. One of the few pieces of hardware that has never seen much of a change. Surprising but I guess vast majority of people basically pay very little attention to sound quality and mostly just record short video clips anyway.

So the Android phones and I think Windows Lumia range have a stereo mic in built? I didn't realise must admit. Figured all the manufacturers were equally guilty of neglecting audio recording.
 
Meh, inbuilt audio sucks anyway if you want quality and this is just as true for dedicated fancy cameras - there's a reason all the vloggy YouTube people use plug-in mics or an external mic/recorder for their DSLRs and compact system cameras even when they're out and about - the only thing it's good for is syncing your audio in post if you made a seperate recording.
 
I can understand maybe that before the iPhone recorded mono when the phone itself was mono... but one of the new additions to the 7 is stereo speakers! :D
 
They used up all their courage in removing the headphone jack. There wasn't enough left to make a decisions to alter the audio experience elsewhere.

It does seem very odd, especially with the improved speakers and "all that extra space they have for other stuff", now they've removed the jack.
 
Probably because Apple limit themselves to adding a handful of features every year so they have enough new features to keep their herd coming back every year. Drip feeding.

It works for them and business is good.
 
The real answer as to why it records in mono is that if it was stereo, the coil whine hiss would be twice as loud :D

/gets coat
 
If you're any kind of professional, your sound mix will be from multiple monaural microphones. An array of mics in something like a phone is not going to yield useful stereo.

Strapping two mics on an iPhone and calling it stereo sound is just, well, false and pointless (don't give Apple any ideas!). It'll be the same as simply playing the mono sound to both L & R speakers, and most audio processors and media players will automatically identify a mono source and do just that, rather than outputting it to just L or R.

Plug headphones into the iphone and play a video clip, does it play out of one ear bud?

I'd be pretty surprised if the iPhone doesn't actually have two mics in it, which are used for noise reduction rather than some gimmick stereo mic array.
 
Last edited:
asim18 said:
If you're any kind of professional, your sound mix will be from multiple monaural microphones. An array of mics in something like a phone is not going to yield useful stereo.
Click to expand...

^^^this

it is pretty pointless - which makes comments like this rather ironic:

Earth[Tera].bin;30042215 said:
I'm guessing because the average iPhone user wouldn't notice the difference so it's not a selling point.
Click to expand...

:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom