As evidenced by a growing thread on the Apple Support Communities, many owners of the new iPhone SE smartphone are plagued with various Bluetooth issues.

Folks are reporting distorted or inaudible calls when the handset is paired with a car or headset.

These issues appear to only affect Bluetooth phone calls, not music playback. Apple had not commented on this problem at post time.

As mentioned, for many affected users playing music or YouTube videos through Bluetooth produces crystal clear audio quality, as expected. Not so much when making phone calls via Bluetooth through a wireless headset or an in-car system: the sound gets distorted, scratchy and constantly cuts in and out.

Unpairing and re-pairing the wireless headset, resetting network settings does, toggling cellular data and changing SIM cars doesn’t alleviate the problem. Restoring the software and setting the device up as new also does nothing to make the bug go away.

According to MacRumors, this issue appears to affect all iPhone SE models running iOS 9.3 or 9.3.1, regardless of carrier or model, in markets like the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden and the united Kingdom.

“The issue does not appear to be isolated to any particular carmaker, as customers have reported identical issues with vehicles sold by Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jeep, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and many other makes and models,” as per MacRumors.

The first iOS 9.3.2 beta also did not resolve this problem.

According to those who’ve contacted Apple Support with the problem, Apple is very much engaged in this issue and is working on a fix.

“There is an internal ‘Issue’ board and tracking system for Apple Support and this Bluetooth issue is on the top of the list,“ as per one poster. “It was conveyed to me that this has become a very real issue internally and resources are now committed to its resolution.”

Have you, or anyone that you know been affected by this issue? If you own an iPhone SE and are plagued with these Bluetooth audio hiccups, sound off in the comments.

Source: Apple Support Communities via MacRumors