That could be another issue, but remember you are on beta 12.1, so that could cause your problem. It is a beta..
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone XS Max Choppy video playback on iPhone XS and XS Max.
- Thread starter ValO
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yeah the stuttering comes and goes, but sometimes it’s really widespread. Hope the stable 12.0.1 (or 12.1?) comes soon.
Oh no, I’ve noticed lots of stuttering/FPS drops in YouTube as well as Netflix. It is seriously off putting when it happens too. In YouTube it seems to be every 10-20 seconds that the frame rate cuts in half for a second or two, and in Netflix it seems to stutter very slightly every 1-2 seconds, which is more like a judder than a stutter tbh.
It’s annoying especially considering I primarily bought the bigger phone to watch video content on. I’m seriously hoping it’s just a software issue, and that it will be fixed soon. If not, I will probably return the phone. Unfortunately I only have a week to decide if I will keep the phone, and by then there’ll probably be no fix.
It’s annoying especially considering I primarily bought the bigger phone to watch video content on. I’m seriously hoping it’s just a software issue, and that it will be fixed soon. If not, I will probably return the phone. Unfortunately I only have a week to decide if I will keep the phone, and by then there’ll probably be no fix.
Oh no, I’ve noticed lots of stuttering/FPS drops in YouTube as well as Netflix. It is seriously off putting when it happens too. In YouTube it seems to be every 10-20 seconds that the frame rate cuts in half for a second or two, and in Netflix it seems to stutter very slightly every 1-2 seconds, which is more like a judder than a stutter tbh.
It’s annoying especially considering I primarily bought the bigger phone to watch video content on. I’m seriously hoping it’s just a software issue, and that it will be fixed soon. If not, I will probably return the phone. Unfortunately I only have a week to decide if I will keep the phone, and by then there’ll probably be no fix.
Can you link the toutube videos that gives you problem? I think this is just a SW-peoblem. I’ve been playing HDR 4k hevc files with no stutter, but SDR 1080p stutters. Since the former is more demanding, I think it’s not a termal problem or HW with the phone. It SEEMS to ME like it’s a SW problem.
Yeah it has to be a SW issue with ios 12 because my Apple TV 4K has the same stuttering all of a sudden. Worked perfectly before. Odd that my iPhone 8 Plus is working fine tho..
Not odd when you consider the software has to work with completely different OLED display and different resolution too
Yes, but the xs, which has the same res as the x, has the same issue. So it seems that it has nothing to do with the res.
My guess is that there are 2 problems which Affect everything :
1. Auto brightness which causes problems in Dolby vision and hdr10 with slowdowns /stutter.
2. There is something wrong with decoding (1080p) at 24/30 hz, there is more judder than there should be. I am used to some judder but this is too much.
Since lost in space is both in 24hz and Dolby vision, it is not very pleasant to watch, not even with auto brightness switches off. It is still not running smooth, but without the huge stutters and slowdowns. But still not quite right.
Last edited:
True. But I’m guessing there must be other things different, like the OLED panel driver etc, in other words the software must be different between the X and the Xs to drive the different hardware
So basically it would seem like that Apple rushed ios 12 out before it was even completely compatible with the new hardware? How am I not surprised..
I'm so glad I found this thread. This issue has been driving me crazy since I received my XS last week. I'm getting dropped frames in absolutely everything video related - Youtube, Netflix, Amazon, Crunchyroll, VLC/Infuse and even with self shot videos played back. What I found even more annoying is that without physically filming the screen there's no way to show evidence of it otherwise - playing back recordings taken with the built in screen recorder shows no issues with the actual video itself.
I was initially going to replace my device, but considering people here have gone through multiple to no avail, I'm seriously considering returning it unless Apple can address this through a software update ASAP.
I was initially going to replace my device, but considering people here have gone through multiple to no avail, I'm seriously considering returning it unless Apple can address this through a software update ASAP.
I also tried with the newest Netflix version. I started with 25 mins remaining, with immediate frame stuttering. But when it came to the panning scene at 24 minuttes left, no stuttering. So it would seem, that it has something to do with the phones rendering buffer. Which is what I'm also experiencing on Youtube and iTunes movies. Seems like it's sometimes, but not always at the same time.
I have written to Lewis Hilsenteger (Unbox Therapy) - and are hoping he will look into this, making it visible to Apple, so it can be fixed by their engineers.
Yep that looks about right. Was able to confirm by testing what you did. No stutters if I start earlier in the clip prior to that 24-minute-remaining part.
So the 3 mail issues with the XS are:
1. Video stutter
2. Wifi/LTE connection issues for some
3. Charging handshaking bug.
Hopefully they will knock these out with the next update.
1. Video stutter
2. Wifi/LTE connection issues for some
3. Charging handshaking bug.
Hopefully they will knock these out with the next update.
Glad I found this thread.. noticed the stuttering bad as well on my Xs.. It seems to be directly related to 24p content (or anything under 60 fps). It's like the OLED panel can't sync itself properly to lower frames than 60 is the issue in my opinion. I'm very sensitive to video judder and have seen this on TVs mostly but it's the worst judder i've ever seen on the new iPhones.
Edit: For me so far, if I download an episode from Netflix, I have no juddler/stutter issues when I playback the downloaded copy. Weird.. however, it seems the downloaded copy is of lesser quality so not really a 1:1 comparison. Whatever Netflix live streams seems to bug the iOS player out.
Edit: For me so far, if I download an episode from Netflix, I have no juddler/stutter issues when I playback the downloaded copy. Weird.. however, it seems the downloaded copy is of lesser quality so not really a 1:1 comparison. Whatever Netflix live streams seems to bug the iOS player out.
Last edited:
I think its an iOS problem, and not an app problem. Hoping it’s not a HW problem.
Use something like VLC and set it to HW decoding. You’ll see then it’s an iOS and not the HW.
Definitely not a hardware problem.. The hardware is leaps and bounds more capable than it needs to be for 1080p and higher resolution playback. I'm just a bit astonished things like this made it past QA and even past all the folks that have been testing the beta iOS's for this time..
I think by hardware problem he is referring to a production defect and not an issue with the actual spec
Apple actually needs a real serious hardware problem that forces them to recall millions of iPhones back and replace. They need a nightmare like that to perhaps kick themselves in the butt and make QC/QA a real thing. The amount of odd issues and ends people found on day 1 of release that made it past user reports is a bit shocking.