iPhone 5 - Black spots on photos taken with rear camera

I know a few people out there have experienced the same issue but I am curious if anyone might have a solution besides replacing the phone.

When using the rear camera on my iPhone 5, if I aim it any light solid colour (easiest to see it this way) there are black specks showing on the screen, they also appear on the photos when taken.

If I zoom in, they will go away (not in view of the sensor I assume) and if I zoom out they return. If I enable video, they are there as well, fixed in spot.

The problem, it starts out as one and then gradually spreads from there.

I had this happen to my first iPhone 5, there are no Apple Stores local to me (closest is 7 hours) so I called up Apple Support and paid the $30 exchange fee and had a replacement mailed out to me. About 2 weeks into using this new one, the specks have started to appear again and one week after the first one, they appear to be getting worse.

Here's a few photos that I still have on my Photo Stream from the previous iPhone

First day I noticed the spots on the original, you can see them along the white frame on the left side. Looks similar to dust


And a few days later, this is what it turned into


And then just before the replacement showed up


I had the phone replaced, it was a bit difficult to explain but in the end they did and only charged me $30 for the replacement.

Everything was good until about a week ago, top left corner and top dead center


And today


As you can see, it's spreading, probably just a matter of days before it spreads further. I guess I'll have to open another support case regarding this since it's less than a month old at this point.