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Sebwilliamss

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 14, 2024
7
3
Hello,

I recently purchased a brand new iPhone 15 and on the second day I noticed that the phone has either a dead pixel or a dust particle under the screen protector (I am not quite sure but that is what it looks like to me) and I’m kind of tempted to take it off and check. It also came with quite an annoying rattling and distorted sound coming from the ear speaker. This was on December 28th and brought it back on January 3rd. It took them almost two weeks to look at it and send it back to me, mentioning that no defect was confirmed even though I had made sure to provide as much evidence as I could. I knew that it was in within my rights to return the device within 14 days and get either my money back or a replacement but they only do that if they find the phone faulty. What should I do at this point? Any response is much appreciated.
Also, what does this thing look like to you guys?
 

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Al Rukh

macrumors 65816
Nov 15, 2017
1,148
1,283
Hello,

I recently purchased a brand new iPhone 15 and on the second day I noticed that the phone has either a dead pixel or a dust particle under the screen protector (I am not quite sure but that is what it looks like to me) and I’m kind of tempted to take it off and check. It also came with quite an annoying rattling and distorted sound coming from the ear speaker. This was on December 28th and brought it back on January 3rd. It took them almost two weeks to look at it and send it back to me, mentioning that no defect was confirmed even though I had made sure to provide as much evidence as I could. I knew that it was in within my rights to return the device within 14 days and get either my money back or a replacement but they only do that if they find the phone faulty. What should I do at this point? Any response is much appreciated.
Also, what does this thing look like to you guys?

It doesn’t look like a dead pixel to me. You mentioned a screen protector - have you tried taking it off and see if it’s a dust trapped between the protector and the phone screen?
 

Sebwilliamss

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 14, 2024
7
3
It doesn’t look like a dead pixel to me. You mentioned a screen protector - have you tried taking it off and see if it’s a dust trapped between the protector and the phone screen?
Thank you very much for your response! No, I haven’t tried taking the screen protector off yet to see if it’s really that. Do this type of dead pixels appear white on dark backgrounds? Certain people also mentioned that dead pixels have more of a sharp shape and it doesn’t resemble exactly to what I have
 

Al Rukh

macrumors 65816
Nov 15, 2017
1,148
1,283
Thank you very much for your response! No, I haven’t tried taking the screen protector off yet to see if it’s really that. Do this type of dead pixels appear white on dark backgrounds? Certain people also mentioned that dead pixels have more of a sharp shape and it doesn’t resemble exactly to what I have

Well you can try that. It will cost you whatever price you paid for the screen protector. I’m quite surprised Apple took in your iPhone and cleared it off as good without removing the screen protector.
 

Sebwilliamss

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 14, 2024
7
3
Well you can try that. It will cost you whatever price you paid for the screen protector. I’m quite surprised Apple took in your iPhone and cleared it off as good without removing the screen protector.
Yeah indeed I’m surprised they took it in and didn’t take off my screen protector. What’s more, it took them almost two weeks to send it back to me and clear it off as not faulty. As it was my right to return it within 14 days or so and when I asked for a replacement, they said I’d get one only if they had a look at the phone and spot manufacturing defects. It’s crazy, for a £900 phone. As for the ear speaker problem, I looked it up on the internet and many people got replacements though
 
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Al Rukh

macrumors 65816
Nov 15, 2017
1,148
1,283
Yeah indeed I’m surprised they took it in and didn’t take off my screen protector. What’s more, it took them almost two weeks to send it back to me and clear it off as not faulty. As it was my right to return it within 14 days or so and when I asked for a replacement, they said I’d get one only if they had a look at the phone and spot manufacturing defects. It’s crazy, for a £900 phone. As for the ear speaker problem, I looked it up on the internet and many people got replacements though

I understand now. I know this is all too late now but if you want to return an iPhone, do not tell them that there’s a defect. Replacement is different from returns. Rule of thumb, if you notice anything wrong with your iPhone within the 14 days return period, just return it or ask for an exchange (not replacement).
 

Sebwilliamss

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 14, 2024
7
3
I understand now. I know this is all too late now but if you want to return an iPhone, do not tell them that there’s a defect. Replacement is different from returns. Rule of thumb, if you notice anything wrong with your iPhone within the 14 days return period, just return it or ask for an exchange (not replacement).
I get what you mean and I know that very well. Unfortunately they said they’d provide me with a replacement only if there are manufacturing defects so 🥲 I kind of had no choice. I got it from my carrier and they sent it to Apple and that was the response I got, they’d put it through a lot of tests I even got a paper of all they tests the phone had passed and everything seemed to be alright. It’s so frustrating though because dead pixels or subpixels are minuscule although I provided them with pics of the thing they weren’t able to spot it 🙁🙁
 

Al Rukh

macrumors 65816
Nov 15, 2017
1,148
1,283
I get what you mean and I know that very well. Unfortunately they said they’d provide me with a replacement only if there are manufacturing defects so 🥲 I kind of had no choice. I got it from my carrier and they sent it to Apple and that was the response I got, they’d put it through a lot of tests I even got a paper of all they tests the phone had passed and everything seemed to be alright. It’s so frustrating though because dead pixels or subpixels are minuscule although I provided them with pics of the thing they weren’t able to spot it

I presume having your carrier in between makes things complicated. The situation is still in your hands. You can remove the protector and check it out for yourself. Good luck!
 
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klasma

macrumors 604
Jun 8, 2017
7,520
20,960
Do this type of dead pixels appear white on dark backgrounds?
Dead pixels are either always on (white) or always off (black). So yours would be off. But it looks more like dust particles to me. I’d take the screen protector off and clean the display to see if that changes anything. Dust particles can also be trapped under the glass though.

If the issue persists and Apple doesn’t want to exchange the unit under warranty, and you don’t want to live with it, you could (since the device is new) purchase an AppleCare+ monthly subscription, break the display and get it repaired under AC+ ($29), and then cancel AC+ sometime later.
 

Robot21

macrumors regular
Dec 8, 2022
175
110
Remove the screen protector and if it’s still there then it’s a dead pixel…ezpz
 

Tripps9000

macrumors regular
Dec 27, 2021
217
311
All I can say is 🤣😂😆 i believe you got nothing more then some little peace of dust or some sort of debris under your screen protector I have had it happen to my phone and it does sometime look like a dead pixel just just replace it with a new one and your phone will be fine 😁
 

Fat_Guy

macrumors 65816
Feb 10, 2021
1,035
1,099
Try this: Take a red permanent marker and circle the thing. This way you can always stare at it. After a while you will get tired of that and rub it off or take the screen protector off.

Here is the thing: After that are you still concerned about it? If not let me know. I have a theory about this - but a dead pixel is still a reason to return the unit.
 
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