Bad news for those buying the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The most advanced smartphone Apple has created yet may arrive broken. MacRumors reports that Apple is aware of an issue preventing some of the high-end phone models from completing their activation process, which is required for calls, messages, and FaceTime.
According to an internal memo, Apple states, “there is a known issue for iOS 16 that may impact device activations on open Wi-Fi networks.” Users can resolve the issue by connecting to a Mac or PC (with iTunes installed) and connecting to Wi-Fi via that machine during the smartphone setup process. However, Apple acknowledges this is an unofficial fix, and that staff should not create support tickets for the issue.
The bug appears to be affecting iPhone 14 Pro Max models shipped with iOS 16.0 pre-installed. Updating the operating system to 16.0.1 seems to solve the issue. However, for those customers who don’t have access to a computer, things could get a little tricky and may even require a visit to the Genius Bar to resolve. (Interestingly, Apple could have avoided this issue by including a physical SIM card slot in the phone. The new eSIM requirement means that activation must go through Wi-Fi.)
The issue comes on the worst possible day for Apple. The release of the iPhone 14 line represents the company’s most advanced efforts in the smartphone space to date. And although this bug will only last until the next iOS update, it’s a rough start out of the gate for the company’s most cutting-edge smartphone model yet.
Source: MacRumors
