Microphone issues are still present after iOS 16.7 update

I recently sent in a feedback ticket after calling Apple Support regarding an issue I discovered with my XR's mic. When recording voice messages to the Messages app, I sound scratchy/staticky, distant, and muffled. However, this issue doesn't exist in third party apps that use the mic, or in the Voice Memos app. Upon further investigation, it seems the issue isn't with the mic at all, but the speaker.

The customer service rep alleged that engineering knows about this and is working to fix it; I call shenanigans, as Apple has been sued for slowing down older phone performance in the past. This sounds reminiscent of that issue.

When recording a voice message, if I blow on the mic port on the bottom of the phone, you hear me in the background, making that sound. But if I tilt the phone up and blow on the speaker, you hear the wind noise loud and clear. I also have noticed that using "Hey Siri" is severely compromised, and Siri doesn't seem to respond to questions or commands unless they're practically shouted at the phone.

It feels like Apple has intentionally engineered Siri and the Messages app to reverse polarity of the top speaker and to record audio into it. If this speaker is not intended to function as a mic, doing so over a long term can damage the speaker, causing it to fail. Odds are good that this would not be covered under warranty, so one can surmise that Apple is underhandedly forcing users to upgrade as their devices inevitably start failing.

I reported this issue in iOS 16.6. Both iOS 16.6.1 and 16.7 have since released. I am NOT willing to upgrade my XR to iOS 17 given all the bugs and battery drain issues being reported, and I don't have need for a higher-end phone (and cannot afford to drop $800-$1000 for a new device at this time).

If anyone has any possible solutions for this issue, I'm all ears. Hopefully I'm shedding light on this issue for others, in the very least.