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iPhone 13 mini Did I get a bad iphone 13 mini?

ryanflucas

ryanflucas

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 28, 2006
146
17
Milwaukee, WI
I upgraded from a SE2 to a 13 Mini. This oled screen is giving me headaches. Colors are really off. Things have yellow tints. Photos look over saturated. My SE2 had a much sharper display then this. Did I get a dud?

FYI: True tone and night shift are disabled. Playing with color filters in accessibility helps a tiny bit but I really shouldn't have to do this to a brand new phone.
 
ryanflucas said:
I upgraded from a SE2 to a 13 Mini. This oled screen is giving me headaches. Colors are really off. Things have yellow tints. Photos look over saturated. My SE2 had a much sharper display then this. Did I get a dud?

FYI: True tone and night shift are disabled. Playing with color filters in accessibility helps a tiny bit but I really shouldn't have to do this to a brand new phone.
Click to expand...
In the past 9 months I have purchased two 13 minis. I had to sell them both as I felt eye burning and discomfort. I have no problem with my Samsung Galaxy S10e which has an AMOLED screen.

Many people have posted about getting headaches and worse from Apple OLED displays. I am now finished with iPhones for good.
 
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No way for anyone here to really tell, unless you can somehow show a side-by-side comparison, and even then it is very difficult.
You need to go to an Apple Store and compare.
It is possible that a 13 Mini is just not for you. Mine is fine for me.
 
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Expos of 1969 said:
In the past 9 months I have purchased two 13 minis. I had to sell them both as I felt eye burning and discomfort. I have no problem with my Samsung Galaxy S10e which has an AMOLED screen.

Many people have posted about getting headaches and worse from Apple OLED displays. I am now finished with iPhones for good.
Click to expand...
Is the OLED in iPhones different than that of Android? This is my first OLED display.

Regarding my eyes, I have excellent vision at age 42. No glasses or contacts. I’m looking at screens all day yet I’m lucky my eyes are still good.
 
ryanflucas said:
Is the OLED in iPhones different than that of Android? This is my first OLED display.

Regarding my eyes, I have excellent vision at age 42. No glasses or contacts. I’m looking at screens all day yet I’m lucky my eyes are still good.
Click to expand...
I am not familiar with all the technical details between Android and Apple OLED displays but there is a great deal of info available on this site as well as others. My current Galaxy which I have now had for 3 years is my first OLED. I am hoping that when I need or want to replace it I do not find that newer Android displays cause me difficulties.
 
ryanflucas said:
My SE2 had a much sharper display then this. Did I get a dud?
Click to expand...
Yes. Whether OLED gives you headaches is one thing, but if the SE2 display was sharper than your mini then there is no question that there is something wrong with your 13 mini display panel.
 
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Looks like you’re sensitive to PWM and you’ve only just found out. I have a feeling that OLED panels are not for you and you may have to go back to an LCD screen for a pain free experience.
 
I went from an iPhone 11 to 13 mini. Yes, it is significantly yellower especially if you put them side by side with identical settings. Personally I preferred the 11 screen (betters colors and sharpness looked the same to me). I got used to the 13 mini after a month or so
 
Check reviews of the iPhones at notebookcheck.com.

They do a superb job of analyzing the tech details, especially the screens. They are one of the few sites to routinely measure and report on PWM — pulse width modulation — which is how many manufacturers and displays handle changing brightness levels. They literally quickly turn the screen on and off — which produces flickering that *some* people are quite sensitive to. That often affects OLED screens. Other displays, e.g., LCD, change the voltage to dim the screen, so there is no flickering — and no headaches or eye strain.

According to notebookcheck, the 2020 iPhone SE has NO PWM, while the 13 mini has some, but at a high enough frequency that most users should not be bothered.

See

www.notebookcheck.net

Apple iPhone SE 2020 Review - Small phone with a fast-beating heart

We are testing the Apple iPhone SE 2, which is equipped with a fast A13 Bionic chipset, weighs less than 150 grams and reaches decent battery runtimes despite its small battery.
www.notebookcheck.net www.notebookcheck.net

and

www.notebookcheck.net

Apple iPhone 13 mini in review: Powerful and ultracompact

We review the Apple iPhone 13 mini with the Apple A15 Bionic SoC, 4 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of internal storage.
www.notebookcheck.net www.notebookcheck.net

Here's their blurb explaining PWM.

“To dim the screen, some notebooks will simply cycle the backlight on and off in rapid succession - a method called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) . This cycling frequency should ideally be undetectable to the human eye. If said frequency is too low, users with sensitive eyes may experience strain or headaches or even notice the flickering altogether.”​
 
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Expos of 1969 said:
Happy with the SE3?
Click to expand...
Great battery life, speedy performance, the single camera is a lot improved from the SE1's. Even a 4.7" screen is already too big and doesn't display that much more text. I can't reach the top third of the screen at all. Would prefer a headphone jack but my Huawei Freebuds open-fit (like EarPods) with active noise cancellation are pretty great.

Ideally I'd like a 13 Mini with TouchID power button and USB-C like the iPad Mini. And a screen replacement downgrade to a 3rd-party LCD. I'm willing to compromise cameras for a small Android phone like the rumoured Xperia Ace IV. Before my iPhone SE1 I was a fan of small Xperia phones – I had 3 of them.

Apple's low-light and camera AI is better than Google Pixel 4A the phone I had for a while after my my 13 Mini. Google Pay doesn't support Visa cards which are my main payment cards. Android phones need at least 8 GB RAM. My Pixel 4A froze and interpreted my screen presses over a 2 minute interval as activating emergency mode and dialled 999.
 
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ryanflucas said:
I upgraded from a SE2 to a 13 Mini. This oled screen is giving me headaches. Colors are really off. Things have yellow tints. Photos look over saturated. My SE2 had a much sharper display then this. Did I get a dud?

FYI: True tone and night shift are disabled. Playing with color filters in accessibility helps a tiny bit but I really shouldn't have to do this to a brand new phone.
Click to expand...
The OLED color calibration by Apple is quite different from their LCD screens (though technically more accurate to the D65 white point). It took me some time to get used to it when I switched from SE1 to 12 mini. There are also minor(-ish) variations in color and contrast from one mini to the next. I actually compared three or four different minis before picking the one with the best color/contrast. About the headaches, that may either be a color/contrast issue, or you’re sensitive to the OLED PWM.
 
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