I switched to an OLED device for the first time with the 11 Pro, all of my prior devices have used LCD panels which did not implement PWM. I too have experienced symptoms. My theory for this issue being more prevalent amongst iPhones users is based partly on research, but with an element of guesswork on top.
OLED screens are superior to LCD in terms of appearance and there is no argument, it’s immediately apparent. However, OLED screens are inferior in terms of their longevity. Being organic means that they will degrade with use, considerably faster than an LCD. This is fact. Burn in and irreversible image retention are also common with this technology, due to uneven wear. This is a cumulative affect, it matters not if you are leaving your device on one image for days on end, or if you achieve this over a period of months a little each day, the end result is the same.
Apple claim to mitigate these issues by identifying static content and making adjustments to lessen the risk of burn in, this can only be achieved by turning those pixels off for longer periods of time compared to the rest of the screen. This fix is likely to cause uneven flickering across the panel as a whole and is possibly why Apple screens are causing some people issues, whilst other devices using the same tech, are not.
Apple avoided OLED for several years as it gained popularity, to their own detriment, but when they did hop on board they had two main objectives, colour accuracy and prolonging the life of the display. They achieved both these objectives as far as testing would imply, but perhaps this comes at the cost of a proportion of sensitive users who are already affected by PWM, being further impacted by an uneven flicker.
Please do not take any of this as fact, I’m simply reading between the lines and this is purely my theory. I would be happy to stand corrected.