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thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Oct 1, 2007
16,144
17,057
Not sure if you looked at the iPhone 11 & 11 Pro phones on the Apple Store display but if so they are running a specific iOS version where the brightness is not as bright in order to avoid screen burning, etc.

I am suspecting also that their color calibration / white balance is different from this specific iOS version as they usually all look whiter than any phone freshly sold and coming out of the box: saw this overtime with whatever iPhone I bought and then compare.

I believe the best and real test would be to compare different iPhones but same model coming from a Store or from different stores.

From my experience I was able to see and beside some small white point variances that all iPhone 11 Pro screens are just warmer than previous iPhone generation ones and this could be just by design so to limit the blue light but indeed uneven screens is a real issue.

I believe it. but I'm just saying even in light of all that, color profile voodoo, I still saw it being yellow across multiple demo units in a store that had glass panes and sunlight coming through. Not sure its as easy to spot in those boxed in Apple Stores, even if it was yellow, especially because of the reasons you mentioned
 

BigSky20

macrumors 6502
Jul 26, 2007
261
135
Apple has lost its ways for people that care about quality. If I am buying the iPhone 11 Pro Max 512 GB phone, I expect a white screen OR the ability to change the white point. I have played the screen lottery game for many years. After being on the phone with them for over 2 hours today (my sixth call and fourth phone) to try to fix an issue, I have to throw in the towel. Apple is a fine company and ecosystem for consumers that are not picky about quality.
 

garethjs

macrumors 65816
Nov 11, 2008
1,148
637
Im so unhappy with my iPhone pro max 512gb. Spend $2.5k (same cost as a MacBook Pro 13” 256gb) on this and to even lie in bed and read Apple news irritates me. I went through 3 models and this is the whitest of all. But the uneven tint and brighter bottom makes all the colours look uneven.

Today is my 3rd week exactly of having this and there goes my return period.

I’m also truely tired of swapping.

I would have just kept my iPhone XS Max which had a perfect screen from the start
 
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Kristine

macrumors 6502a
Feb 21, 2005
599
174
I would have just kept my iPhone XS Max which had a perfect screen from the start

This is me. I went through 16 iPhone XS Max last year to get a good one (did refund each time then wait a few weeks so ended up with a November build). This year, I decided to hold onto my XS Max in case I couldn't get a good iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Guess what? I'm lucky I kept it because I am yet to see a good iPhone 11 Max Pro in person and I have no time for the panel lottery. Holding onto my XS Max. The only thing I'm going to miss is the newer camera features, but considering I stare at my screen more than I take photos it was an easy decision for me.
 
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Jutah

macrumors 65816
Mar 30, 2012
1,008
436
I've noticed that the 11pro has a warmer tint then the XS. This is pretty sure. But, the light condition and the true tone play a huge difference in this. See the two picture (11 on the left. out of the box).

Anyway, to me is mandatory that the screen is uniform. Then with the accessibility screen adjustments, i can mostly find a good balance (true tone always on).

the 3rd pic is the 11pro max with TT off and max brightness (auto brightness off)
the 4th pic is the 11 pro max with TT on, max brightness (auto brightness off) + some screen regulation (both hue and intensity) ps: it's not so much blue in in real life ^_^
 

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socceryo3

macrumors member
Jun 30, 2013
98
117
the 4th pic is the 11 pro max with TT on, max brightness (auto brightness off) + some screen regulation (both hue and intensity) // not so much blue in in real life ^_^
Applying color filters just further skews the colors of everything by adding more color on top of the yellow that is already there. It isn't subtracting out the yellow, it's adding another color on top. This is a bad workaround, not a fix.
 

Jutah

macrumors 65816
Mar 30, 2012
1,008
436
Applying color filters just further skews the colors of everything by adding more color on top of the yellow that is already there. It isn't subtracting out the yellow, it's adding another color on top. This is a bad workaround, not a fix.

agree, unfortunately, AFAIK, there's no way to modify the white point in the iphone as is the case of macbook
 

m0sher

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2018
815
783
You know, I accidentally left true tone off when messing around with that video that claimed to have a fix. (Which it didn’t)

If the brightness is turned down enough it’s not as glaring without TT and you get used to a light blue hue instead. It’s funny how the eyes acclimate to things.

I tried turning it Off andAnd when watching TV things seem more sharper.

I have a question does auto brightness work with true tone turned off and how can I check that?

NVM found it Settings/Accessibility/Display and Text

K it’s On , I’m good. :D
 
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Harthag

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2009
2,018
2,574
U.S.
Decided to try again and got another 11 Pro Max. First one was too warm, I'd say it was yellow, and shifted to pink and was a little dull. Got another one and amazingly it had a dead pixel which is rare, Apple swapped no questions asked. Latest one is perfect. Nice and uniform and not yellow. Slight blue shift at all angles, normal. Did my dark room check, everything is uniform on a dark gray screen. I entered my serial into the site to check manufacture date and it came back as a MBP 2018 haha. But it starts with FK1.

As I was returning my yellow and pink POS this morning I compared my latest / good one to a display model 11 Pro Max and a regular 11 Pro. My screen is identical to both. That's all I need to see and I'm happy, not visiting 5 stores and comparing to 12 phones in each store. I'm amazed I just got one that's totally uniform in all brightness settings, finally.
 

Sam in SoCal

macrumors 6502a
Oct 13, 2019
762
1,031
Decided to try again and got another 11 Pro Max. First one was too warm, I'd say it was yellow, and shifted to pink and was a little dull. Got another one and amazingly it had a dead pixel which is rare, Apple swapped no questions asked. Latest one is perfect. Nice and uniform and not yellow. Slight blue shift at all angles, normal. Did my dark room check, everything is uniform on a dark gray screen. I entered my serial into the site to check manufacture date and it came back as a MBP 2018 haha. But it starts with FK1.

As I was returning my yellow and pink POS this morning I compared my latest / good one to a display model 11 Pro Max and a regular 11 Pro. My screen is identical to both. That's all I need to see and I'm happy, not visiting 5 stores and comparing to 12 phones in each store. I'm amazed I just got one that's totally uniform in all brightness settings, finally.
I wonder if you can request an FK1 starting serial number at the Apple store without issues. I’m thinking they can check inventory on a specific color/storage model and scroll to see serial numbers. Seems like they maybe could have recalibrated these later batches
 

Shadowbech

macrumors G3
Oct 18, 2011
9,038
5,894
I wonder if you can request an FK1 starting serial number at the Apple store without issues. I’m thinking they can check inventory on a specific color/storage model and scroll to see serial numbers. Seems like they maybe could have recalibrated these later batches
They give you whatever they grab from the inventories. But you could ask politely:)
 

Harthag

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2009
2,018
2,574
U.S.
I wonder if you can request an FK1 starting serial number at the Apple store without issues. I’m thinking they can check inventory on a specific color/storage model and scroll to see serial numbers. Seems like they maybe could have recalibrated these later batches
They give you whatever they grab from the inventories. But you could ask politely:)

Once traffic settles down after launch they will do this. I think I asked for this when I got the X or XS, I can't remember. They may look at you like a weirdo, but if they are chill they will happily oblige. I really think factory does not matter. All 3 of my phones were / are FK1.
So the whites look crisp white and not like an off-white?
Compared to my regular 11 it is warmer. It is just how these screens are calibrated. Whites look crisp to me. In my experience the screens that are a little warmer + shift to pink look the worst. I know piss yellow when I see it, there's a difference between that and "warm", the latter of which is the new norm for these phones. The one I returned was too yellow when looking straight at it, looked perfect at a slight tilt (horizontally tilted), and when tilted vertically the top 1/2 of the screen turned to a pink hue.
 
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Jutah

macrumors 65816
Mar 30, 2012
1,008
436
Once traffic settles down after launch they will do this. I think I asked for this when I got the X or XS, I can't remember. They may look at you like a weirdo, but if they are chill they will happily oblige. I really think factory does not matter. All 3 of my phones were / are FK1.

Compared to my regular 11 it is warmer. It is just how these screens are calibrated. Whites look crisp to me. In my experience the screens that are a little warmer + shift to pink look the worst. I know piss yellow when I see it, there's a difference between that and "warm", the latter of which is the new norm for these phones. The one I returned was too yellow when looking straight at it, looked perfect at a slight tilt (horizontally tilted), and when tilted vertically the top 1/2 of the screen turned to a pink hue.

are you used to disable TT? I think my panel is pretty similarnto your (fk2). I posted it above.
 

hatzalam

macrumors newbie
Oct 12, 2019
8
0
Bay Area, California
I'm about to exchange/return my 3rd 11 Pro today. However, the Apple Store close to me only has two of the space gray 256 either sim-free or Verizon, which is what I'd need. And they were both manufactured the same week as my 2nd and current phones. I don't want to chance returning this one to get another bad display. The sim-free one was manufactured in Chengdu, while the Verizon one was made at factory C39.
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I've noticed that the 11pro has a warmer tint then the XS. This is pretty sure. But, the light condition and the true tone play a huge difference in this. See the two picture (11 on the right. out of the box).

Anyway, to e is mandatory that the screen is uniform. Then with the accessibility screen adjustments, i can mostly find a good balance (true tone always on).

the 3rd pic is the 11pro max with TT off and max brightness (auto brightness off)
the 4th pic is the 11 pro max with TT on, max brightness (auto brightness off) + some screen regulation (both hue and intensity) // not so much blue in in real life ^_^

Your third photo is very interesting. That display has the same overly magenta/red cast to it that my current phone has. It's not a good look, and it makes doing any photo color correcting basically impossible.
 

Jutah

macrumors 65816
Mar 30, 2012
1,008
436
I'm about to exchange/return my 3rd 11 Pro today. However, the Apple Store close to me only has two of the space gray 256 either sim-free or Verizon, which is what I'd need. And they were both manufactured the same week as my 2nd and current phones. I don't want to chance returning this one to get another bad display. The sim-free one was manufactured in Chengdu, while the Verizon one was made at factory


Your third photo is very interesting. That display has the same overly magenta/red cast to it that my current phone has. It's not a good look, and it makes doing any photo color correcting basically impossible.

the third one, just tt off, looks pretty good to me. The panel is uniform, i posted just understand theforum level of “perfection”.
It also has tocbe considered that the pictures misleads....
 

Bstephens

macrumors 6502
Jul 31, 2010
321
178
Decided to try again and got another 11 Pro Max. First one was too warm, I'd say it was yellow, and shifted to pink and was a little dull. Got another one and amazingly it had a dead pixel which is rare, Apple swapped no questions asked. Latest one is perfect. Nice and uniform and not yellow. Slight blue shift at all angles, normal. Did my dark room check, everything is uniform on a dark gray screen. I entered my serial into the site to check manufacture date and it came back as a MBP 2018 haha. But it starts with FK1.

As I was returning my yellow and pink POS this morning I compared my latest / good one to a display model 11 Pro Max and a regular 11 Pro. My screen is identical to both. That's all I need to see and I'm happy, not visiting 5 stores and comparing to 12 phones in each store. I'm amazed I just got one that's totally uniform in all brightness settings, finally.

What did you use to do the darkroom check and at what settings and how dark was the gray?

When I use the Screentest app with the darkest gray at min brightness it has some lighter areas of gray on the top half.
 

sstiwari

macrumors regular
Sep 24, 2017
126
95
I wonder if you can request an FK1 starting serial number at the Apple store without issues. I’m thinking they can check inventory on a specific color/storage model and scroll to see serial numbers. Seems like they maybe could have recalibrated these later batches

I have FK1 serial iPhone 11 Pro Max and it’s whites are warmer than my XS Max whites. In fact I would call it ivory in place of white.

But it’s not just the LCD Panel quality. In my view Angle at which you are viewing the screen, Brightness and Truetone, play a major role in yellowing the screen.

On high brightness it appears less yellow. With True Tone off it appears even lesser yellow. Yellowing is most pronounced at 45 deg angle.

But yes, the screen of my phone is uniform at all brightness. So, I am keeping it. This is my 2nd phone.
 

Ron21

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2007
954
709
It's really unfortunate that a $1500 phone can't get the display right... and the fact that we are still dealing with this issue year after year for almost a decade.

Mine is also yellow tinted, I just can't get use to it because I'm using so many other displays that don't have this issue like my MacBook, work monitor, Apple Watch, etc..

I'm past the 14 day return period at this point, I've tried to get use to it but simply can't. Will try exchanging/returning it tomorrow, might switch to the regular 11 Pro.

I actually regret trading in my iPhone X for the Pro Max, my X was flawless, no issues, beautiful white screen with excellent colors.
 

Harthag

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2009
2,018
2,574
U.S.
What did you use to do the darkroom check and at what settings and how dark was the gray?

When I use the Screentest app with the darkest gray at min brightness it has some lighter areas of gray on the top half.
I use the screen test app, settings screen in dark mode, and a dark gray video solid screen on YouTube.

Only at absolute minimum 0 brightness in a -pitch black- room with just the right background (very dark gray) is there a hint of unevenness at the bottom. Any hint of light in an environment, it is not noticeable. During normal use even at minimum brightness in a dark room it is not visible. My settings screen is a uniform dark gray in normal use as are any dark gray web pages.

The MR forum dark theme was not uniform on prior Max I had, this one it is. That’s also a very quick and easy test to check uniformity.

Non-issue for me on this phone, luckily.
 

macode

macrumors newbie
Oct 15, 2019
4
3
Data point: 11 Max Pro
Manufactured in G6T - China, Shenzhen, Week 40,
Yellowish screen (Yes, I turned TT CF off).
And the max brightness is darker than my previous iPhone.

Seriously though, how come Apple's flagship looks worse than a Pixel 3a XL?
 
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bushman4

macrumors 601
Mar 22, 2011
4,146
3,942
I’ve looked at over 30 Pro Max iPhones in Apple stores in Nyc. All of them have the same warm calibration
At this point in time it looks as though they’re all like that
 
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