I've never had any issues with HDMI or cracking sound on any iOS devices. And none on any intel Macbooks.
But the Apple processor laptops not only are reported to crackle when system RAM is low, something I never got with my Intel Macbooks nor iOS devices
But they also have issues with connecting to HDMI to TVs where there is stuttering sound issues or even issues with playback speed being too fast, which is only resolved when restarted. Again something intel macbook and iOS devices also didn't have
Really interested what would everyone's theory about why this bugs have suddenly cropped up.