One of the outstanding features of the iPhone 7 Plus is its camera. The dual-lens camera of the iPhone 7 combines the power of a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens with a 12-megapixel telephoto lens which allows users to create spectacular bokeh shots. Unfortunately, there have been several reports that the unit's camera application is creating issues.
A thread in Reddit was started by a user, titled "iPhone 7 Plus Cameras are dying." According to the user, an error report that says "Emergency iPhone needs to cool down" pops up when the camera app is opened, even if the unit does not appear to be heating up. Several iPhone users on Reddit posted replies on the thread and stated that they have also experienced the same issue.
Other reports from users on social media stated that the camera of their iPhone 7 Plus displayed nothing but a black screen instead of having an image preview. Others reported seeing flashes of either green, blue or purple on their camera app screens.
If you search on Twitter for this topic, you will see that the issue has been happening as early as back in October, which means that the recent update to iOS 10.2 is unlikely the source of these problems. Instead, there is a possibility that this could be a hardware issue which is affecting a small batch of units. If this is indeed the case, unfortunately, a software update would not be able to fix the problem.
Apple is aware of these issues and is offering either to repair or replace units experiencing this kind of problem. Owners affected by these issues can drop their phones off at the nearest Apple Store.