All Apple iPhones are not alike. Apple has modified the Japanese iPhones to make a loud shutter noise when you click photos even when the phone is set to silent mode. But why would they do this…
Nobuyuki Hayashi, a freelance journalist in Tokyo says
In Japan, the camera on mobile phones can be as high as 5.2M Pixels and they could be used for sneak shots such as spy shots and/or dirty pictures. For this reason, Japanese manufacturers have stopped the disabling of shutter sound in silent mode; some manufacturers have even put louder shutter sound.
Since the shutter sound cannot be disabled or switched off, whenever someone tries to take upskirt pictures etc., the loud shutter noise will alert the subject. This sneaky photography business must be particularly rampant in Japan, if manufacturers have opted to tweak this feature and even Apple has made an exception to its iphone models.
Did you notice any other special features in your local iPhone?