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iamdman

macrumors newbie
Oct 14, 2018
25
6
You can take the phones into a completely dark room, set up the brightness to 40-50% and run this test full screen to check the uniformity

Thanks for the link to test uniformity. To my surprise the phone on the right in the original post (which had less yellow tint to my eyes) had bad gray uniformity. There was a dark band on the top quarter (when viewed in landscape ) at 2% gray scale and attached are the pictures marked L and R. The other phone which was slightly warm didn’t exhibit that much.

I was inclining more towards keeping the less warmer phone (right in my original post) but now after this test I am not sure anymore. I think it makes sense to hold on to the warmer one (left) since it has better uniformity?


And thanks to all who gave their opinions as well.

Thanks!
 

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chillip

macrumors 68040
Mar 16, 2013
3,260
2,860
Thanks for the link to test uniformity. To my surprise the phone on the right in the original post (which had less yellow tint to my eyes) had bad gray uniformity. There was a dark band on the top quarter (when viewed in landscape ) at 2% gray scale and attached are the pictures marked L and R. The other phone which was slightly warm didn’t exhibit that much.

I was inclining more towards keeping the less warmer phone (right in my original post) but now after this test I am not sure anymore. I think it makes sense to hold on to the warmer one (left) since it has better uniformity?


And thanks to all who gave their opinions as well.

Thanks!

I won’t be doing such tests and you will pick up things that aren’t visible to the human eye in normal use and every screen will show some sort of issue.
 

iamdman

macrumors newbie
Oct 14, 2018
25
6
I won’t be doing such tests and you will pick up things that aren’t visible to the human eye in normal use and every screen will show some sort of issue.

You are right. The more I look the more I am going to find issue rather than enjoying the device. Since I had to return one of the phone was just trying to see which one to keep - that’s all.
 

egorev

macrumors newbie
Dec 22, 2018
19
6
I won’t be doing such tests and you will pick up things that aren’t visible to the human eye in normal use and every screen will show some sort of issue.

I found this test only because I noticed the uniformity right away (I'm an interface designer). This kind of uniformity is too obvious and incredibly annoying when using the Dark Mode + TrueTone + Night Shift and I can't tolerate something like this when Apple promotes its displays as best-in-class-super-retina-xdr-for-pros (let's also not forget the prices).
 
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netnative

macrumors 6502
Nov 21, 2013
433
320
Puerto Rico, USA
Have you read the change log that Apple provided with iOS 13.1.2 released on September 30th? According to Apple, that update "[f]ixes a bug that could result in a loss of display calibration data." Would that have any bearing on some of the display issues discussed here? If it does, I would surmise that the update would prevent the loss of display calibration data in iPhones manufactured after September 30th. Because if the display calibration data was lost while using previous iOS versions, how could it possibly be recovered?

I would like to have EricaGriffin's thoughts on this.
 

socceryo3

macrumors member
Jun 30, 2013
98
117
So after dealing with a Genius who claimed he couldn’t see an issue that my roommate, a friend, three coworkers, and even two Apple sales associates all said they could clearly see, and also a phone rep who literally tried to suggest that using existing chargers instead of the supplied fast charger could have been the reason for the shift in color (I was literally speechless for a few seconds before just replying that no, that isn’t correct at all), I was transferred to a technical support rep who set up an express replacement for me. So here’s hoping.
 
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EricaGriffin

macrumors newbie
Sep 28, 2019
13
57
I would like to have EricaGriffin's thoughts on this.
It didn’t fix anything I can see. At first I thought it was to fix the wallpaper bug, where the wallpaper looks under saturated, as if it’s not honoring the P3 color tag and being seen as sRGB instead. But it didn’t fix that either! So I haven’t the slightest clue what they THINK they fixed because the color temp is still horrible! Now I am using the iPhone 11 (non pro) and couldn’t be happier with the way the screen looks, even though it’s not oled and a much lesser resolution. At least now I’m not in distress with wanting to stab my eyes out.
 

ilifecomputer

macrumors 6502
Feb 9, 2005
391
100
CA
i know i said everyone should just accept the screen fate they were dealt. i was weak and bought two more iphones so I could compare three (my original with dust in the camera and a bezel scratch vs two new ones). all three had visible issues and it was another pick your poison year for me. ended up keeping the original dust in camera and scratched bezel iphone. i continue to stand by my original comment of, "the return lottery isn't worth the time and emotional effort"
 

EricaGriffin

macrumors newbie
Sep 28, 2019
13
57
i know i said everyone should just accept the screen fate they were dealt. i was weak and bought two more iphones so I could compare three (my original with dust in the camera and a bezel scratch vs two new ones). all three had visible issues and it was another pick your poison year for me. ended up keeping the original dust in camera and scratched bezel iphone. i continue to stand by my original comment of, "the return lottery isn't worth the time and emotional effort"
I 100% agree with that. It’s why I caved and went with the iPhone 11 instead. I figure if I want zoomed in shots I will carry my pocketable rx100 vii, with 20x optical zoom. And even this iPhone 11 screen has 1 fleck of something under the glass in at more inconspicuous spot so I will probably just keep it and be happy.
 

mamut

macrumors member
Nov 10, 2016
72
83
I am, let's say, ''satisfied'' with my 11 Pro screen, I can see it's little yellowish/greenish compared to XS, but okay

Today I went to apple store, and checked one 11 Pro, and one 11 Pro Max, they look AWFUL compared to mine. They both look washed out, all phones were on 70% brightness, true tone and auto brightness disabled.

So don't know what to say about this issue, and don't know if that's an issue at all. It's what it is, don't compare phones and enjoy, I guess.
 

kirk.vino

macrumors 6502a
Oct 27, 2017
667
1,013
I am, let's say, ''satisfied'' with my 11 Pro screen, I can see it's little yellowish/greenish compared to XS, but okay

Today I went to apple store, and checked one 11 Pro, and one 11 Pro Max, they look AWFUL compared to mine. They both look washed out, all phones were on 70% brightness, true tone and auto brightness disabled.

So don't know what to say about this issue, and don't know if that's an issue at all. It's what it is, don't compare phones and enjoy, I guess.
I posted it multiple times: those display units run on a modified iOS. They're calibrated differently. It's not even worth comparing to them to begin with, as there is no retail unit that will have the same screen brightness, etc.
 
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jkozlow3

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2008
973
659
I thought I was OCD. Then I read this thread. Wow.

I turned off True Tone on my 11 Pro and have no complaints. Didn't need to compare my screen to 27 other identical phones I purchased for the sake of selecting the one with the absolute best screen or anything! ?
 

rkuo

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2010
1,308
955
This may offer little consolation to those of you who really want a dazzling, cool screen with stark whites, but I do think that those will be hard to come by, and more of an anomaly - since what appeared initially as "yellow" seems to be perfectly calibrated out of the box.

And this is what I've been trying to beat into everyone on this thread. Nearly every poster here complaining about "yellow" screens is probably using their old blue-shifted phone as a reference, which is WRONG! Think about it ... which phone got calibrated most recently? It's the new phone, not your old one!

Dust under screens, uniformity issues, etc ... that's a different story. But complaining about color temperature is useless unless one has an accurate reference for comparison!
 
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YellowApple

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2019
12
4
My 14 day return period expires tomorrow. No new phones are available to facilitate an exchange so I’m going to just return the 11 PRO and keep the far superior whitepoint iPhone X. Hopefully, one day the problem will be fixed. I doubt it though. It seems that the geniuses at Apple like dingy gray.
 
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thelead

macrumors 6502a
Apr 30, 2010
608
265
I thought I was OCD. Then I read this thread. Wow.

I turned off True Tone on my 11 Pro and have no complaints. Didn't need to compare my screen to 27 other identical phones I purchased for the sake of selecting the one with the absolute best screen or anything! ?
I’m guessing that the most picky, me included, either work in content creation or dabble in digital art/media. I can’t wait to hear/read the contortion that’s going to happen when this ‘super accurate’ display looks different than Apples $5,000 display.
 

symphony

macrumors 68020
Aug 25, 2016
2,232
2,641
My iPhone 11 Pro is starting to look normal with True Tone on now. It’s starting to look accurate, still looks awful under low light though.
 

MacDevil7334

Contributor
Oct 15, 2011
2,553
5,817
Austin TX
My iPhone 11 Pro is starting to look normal with True Tone on now. It’s starting to look accurate, still looks awful under low light though.
I’m seeing this too. I am comparing it every day to my iPad Pro in the same lighting. My iPhone is still warmer, but definitely closer to accurate than it was in the first week. I’m not sure what’s driving the change (hardware or software) My screen is uniform so I’ve decided to live with it. I did prefer the slightly cooler tone of my X and definitely am still mourning the loss of 3D Touch. But the cameras and better battery life on the 11 Pro are too nice to pass up.

One thing I have noticed is that, while the most recent 13.1.2 update does not appear to have changed the overall screen calibration, it has made the True Tone feature more responsive. With earlier builds, it seemed like I had to really change the lighting conditions to make my screen temperature change. My office has warm yellow overhead lights and a window behind the desk. Before 13.1.2, True Tone would make the screen warm unless I directly aimed it at the window (even though there was bluer light from outside shining on my desk). Any other position of the phone would make the screen yellow. With 13.1.2, True Tone seems much more responsive. Even slight shifts in the position of the phone are causing the screen to change temperature to adapt to the more dominant light source falling on it. That seems to be an improvement at least.
 
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Alex586

macrumors member
Sep 20, 2019
44
20
Anyone is happy with their swapped unit ? Better or worse ? I need to read good feedback ! ?
 

Dayley28

macrumors member
Jan 10, 2019
38
15
I returned my iPhone 11 Pro because of this. I’m either gonna hold out and see if there are any software changes or statements from apple or until someone official saying this is normal and not screen issues. This might sound crazy but I might wait a few weeks/month in which time new batches will be sold and then the screens may be different who knows?
 

iamdman

macrumors newbie
Oct 14, 2018
25
6
I am comparing two Pro 11 Max and under bright sunlight or blue light they display looks about the same as far white goes. However when the light source changes say to tungsten or a warmer light then true tone kicks in and both phone changes color to be bit warm which is expected but one of the phone turns much more warmer than the other! Why is that so? The brightness also gets adjusted but to the same level on both. I find that strange since the display looks identical under bright light. Why would TT mess one phone more than the other?
[automerge]1570149256[/automerge]
Anyone is happy with their swapped unit ? Better or worse ? I need to read good feedback ! ?

Its a lottery from what I see here.
 

kirk.vino

macrumors 6502a
Oct 27, 2017
667
1,013
I returned my iPhone 11 Pro because of this. I’m either gonna hold out and see if there are any software changes or statements from apple or until someone official saying this is normal and not screen issues. This might sound crazy but I might wait a few weeks/month in which time new batches will be sold and then the screens may be different who knows?
Most likely it means that the screens are not really identical. The best way to see what tint differences they have is to turn brightness all the way down on both and look at them in a completely dark room. That way you’ll be able to see the difference in their tints.
 
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symphony

macrumors 68020
Aug 25, 2016
2,232
2,641
I’m seeing this too. I am comparing it every day to my iPad Pro in the same lighting. My iPhone is still warmer, but definitely closer to accurate than it was in the first week. I’m not sure what’s driving the change (hardware or software) My screen is uniform so I’ve decided to live with it. I did prefer the slightly cooler tone of my X and definitely am still mourning the loss of 3D Touch. But the cameras and better battery life on the 11 Pro are too nice to pass up.

One thing I have noticed is that, while the most recent 13.1.2 update does not appear to have changed the overall screen calibration, it has made the True Tone feature more responsive. With earlier builds, it seemed like I had to really change the lighting conditions to make my screen temperature change. My office has warm yellow overhead lights and a window behind the desk. Before 13.1.2, True Tone would make the screen warm unless I directly aimed it at the window (even though there was bluer light from outside shining on my desk). Any other position of the phone would make the screen yellow. With 13.1.2, True Tone seems much more responsive. Even slight shifts in the position of the phone are causing the screen to change temperature to adapt to the more dominant light source falling on it. That seems to be an improvement at least.

Apparently Apple reduced the amount of channel sensors used for True Tone on the new iPhone 11 Pro vs the iPhone XS. Last year Apple bumped it up to 16 channels on the XS, now they lowered it.

That being said, yeah, I have to agree that True Tone has become more responsive now. I’m on iOS 13.2 not iOS 13.1.2, and True Tone is working much better than day one.

I haven’t bothered to check my iPhone’s display without True Tone, but since True Tone can make your screen yellow and blue, it does a good job adjusting it to room’s ‘white’.

I rather not gamble like I did last year. My iPhone has no blemishes, barely any off axis color shift, and good uniformity.
 

yugioh5d

macrumors regular
Mar 20, 2015
105
9
I think my Pro Max is warmer/yellower compared to my iPhone X. It might be my X is just too cool...I'm not too sure. Both are about 40% brightness, TrueTone and Nightshift are off. For some reason I found my X is brighter than the Pro Max. Uniformity seems ok. This is my first Pro Max, so I'm not sure whether I should try another one. Thoughts?

img_0033-jpg.866369


P.S: Please ignore the rainbow, I think is just the glare from the screen protector.
 

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Dayley28

macrumors member
Jan 10, 2019
38
15
I think my Pro Max is warmer/yellower compared to my iPhone X. It might be my X is just too cool...I'm not too sure. Both are about 40% brightness, TrueTone and Nightshift are off. For some reason I found my X is brighter than the Pro Max. Uniformity seems ok. This is my first Pro Max, so I'm not sure whether I should try another one. Thoughts?

img_0033-jpg.866369


P.S: Please ignore the rainbow, I think is just the glare from the screen protector.

Wow that looks really bad compared to the X. I would return if I was you because I would not be able to cope with that and when you get your money back I would stick with the X for a few months Until all of this settles and is maybe talked about more, in which apple may release a statement or provide a fix through software. I’m thinking about buying the normal 11 as I had the 11 pro (non max) but decided to return it because I couldn’t cope with the screen uniformity and yellow issues.
 
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kirk.vino

macrumors 6502a
Oct 27, 2017
667
1,013
Wow that looks really bad compared to the X. I would return if I was you because I would not be able to cope with that and when you get your money back I would stick with the X for a few months Until all of this settles and is maybe talked about more, in which apple may release a statement or provide a fix through software. I’m thinking about buying the normal 11 as I had the 11 pro (non max) but decided to return it because I couldn’t cope with the screen uniformity and yellow issues.
At the same time that X doesn’t look uniform at all: the top half is darker and has a different tint compared to the bottom of the screen.
 
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