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Are you experiencing this issue?


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I too am using an 8+ I purchased new (Apple refurbished) a few months ago.
1. It’s definitely not slow (still on iOS 14)
2. Camera is better than what I need.
3. It’s the best form factor ever
4. No notch
5. No Flickering.
6. Good speakers.
7. Fast Touch ID

There’s nothing I can fault this phone for. As far as I’m concerned, it is a “flagship“.
If you want to experience real frustration, use an iPhone 6+ for a while. Geezus that thing is brutal.

Spittin facts, as far as I'm concerned the 8+ is the best phone Apple's ever made. Mine's on 15.5 beta and it still flies. It'll probably still be my main even with the new SE, I'll use that when I need to save space in my purse but for daily use the 8+ really is perfect.
 
Funnily enough I’m finding the biggest difference is the camera, as the sensor is definitely showing its age in comparison. I can make do, but that’s the main shortcoming of the new iPhone SE.

The display is surprisingly contrasty and calibrated well—even warmer, which is my preference. Side-by-side admittedly some content looked better on iPhone SE, although the OLED display with its ridiculously high PPI is obviously better.

I guess we’ll have to look forward to a future iPhone generation, and when the day comes that there’s no more PWM then we’ll probably enjoy that iPhone 10x as much as we normally would have if we continued annual upgrades…

I’m fairly confident that Apple monitors this thread but I’ll be sure to send detailed feedback as well as I’ve tried every iPhone this generation besides iPhone 13 Pro Max.
I’ve seen rumors that the next SE will be based on the iPhone XR chassis. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I was kind of hoping for the 8 Plus design as a base. I liked the higher ppi of the display. Or the iPhone 11 since it’s more advanced except for the CPU.

I do get more blurry indoor photos on my SE3 vs my iPhone 11. I had thought that was because the SE had a f2.2 lens and the iPhone 11 had an f1.7 or 1.8 but I looked that up and apparently I was mistaken somehow. So I guess it is due to the older sensor.
 
Just to be clear, was the 12 anecdotally not supposed to be as bad as the iPhone 13 PWM despite a lower freq?
 
It’s not clear because there’s no trend to use as a guide. Some people claim that the original iPhone X which had the first OLED display didn’t bother them but later models did, but the “consensus” from others was that the iPhone X had the worst OLED display of the bunch as far as eye strain is concerned.
What nails one person might be fine for another and vice versa.

The ONLY way to know if a certain model of iPhone will bother -you- is to try it out for yourself.
 
It’s not clear because there’s no trend to use as a guide. Some people claim that the original iPhone X which had the first OLED display didn’t bother them but later models did, but the “consensus” from others was that the iPhone X had the worst OLED display of the bunch as far as eye strain is concerned.
What nails one person might be fine for another and vice versa.

The ONLY way to know if a certain model of iPhone will bother -you- is to try it out for yourself.
It’s true iPhone X didn’t give me headaches and nausea. But my eyes were easily getting tired/heavy….. XS was also manageable but even worse….. after XS it was game over.
 
This remains frustrating because I don’t feel that the sophisticated PWM implementation is necessary. Even a 510Hz rate is offloading the visual processing to our nervous systems in order to display a flicker-free image.

Perhaps it’s to prevent burn-in or for long-term display performance. OLED isn’t as perfect of a display technology as I expected—at least not these smartphone panels.

Apple Watch has 60Hz flicker with amplitudes under 1% without the use of PWM and its OLED display hasn’t caused me any issues whatsoever across multiple generations.

Even if there’s an Accessibility option with three brightness levels it should technically be possible to fix this. But I feel I’m still wasting a lot of energy over this and the best we’ve gotten is a doubled PWM rate in five generations, which is notable progression but not enough.
 
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This remains frustrating because I don’t feel that the sophisticated PWM implementation is necessary. Even a 510Hz rate is offloading the visual processing to our nervous systems in order to display a flicker-free image.

Perhaps it’s to prevent burn-in or for long-term display performance. OLED isn’t as perfect of a display technology as I expected—at least not these smartphone panels.

Apple Watch has 60Hz flicker with amplitudes under 1% without the use of PWM and its OLED display hasn’t caused me any issues whatsoever across multiple generations.

Even if there’s an Accessibility option with three brightness levels it should technically be possible to fix this. But I feel I’m still wasting a lot of energy over this and the best we’ve gotten is a doubled PWM rate in five generations, which is notable progression but not enough.
Did you ever try the iPhone 12 series Mike?
And if so was it just as bad as the 13 in terms of eye strain nausea?
 
Did you ever try the iPhone 12 series Mike?
And if so was it just as bad as the 13 in terms of eye strain nausea?
Hi, hello there. Lemme just jump in real quick out of nowhere, ha.

I had a 12 mini, and had significant eye pain in back of eye: returned it only a few days of owning. At night, when it was at the lowest brightness, I could SEE the flickering and though “whelp. That settles it. Haha, this definitely is going back”

I got an 11, and enjoyed it, but I hated the size and the dithering made my eyes hurt a little (but low power mode and wearing astigmatism corrective glasses removed it completely).

Anyways, loved the 11, but wanted a SMALL phone.

13 mini came out, with trepidation bought it to test for the 14 return window.

Well, slap me and call me Charlie, I had a little bit of noticeable eye discomfort but no where near the level of pain the 12 mini gave me.

“And you can still see him to this day, wandering the earth with his Starlight iPhone 13 mini in his pocket, barely noticing it’s there, and peering at the screen without nary a wince. The End.”
 
Did you ever try the iPhone 12 series Mike?
And if so was it just as bad as the 13 in terms of eye strain nausea?
I tried iPhone 12 Pro Max and despite immensely enjoying that phone the headaches were about as bad as iPhone X. I would rate symptoms at a 9 comparatively.

iPhone 13 Mini was a 4 on the same scale, which is why it’s still difficult for me to give it up. It provides a better experience than iPhone SE, but still causes headaches that are subdued and the flickering can be noticeable at times.

It’s a notable improvement overall and I’m not surprised that users with moderate levels of eye strain are able to use it without issues.

I’m definitely in the top 1% of users that experience PWM sensitivity, although I’ve only ever had issues with these latest iPhones. I’m incredibly perceptible to it, which also isn’t surprising since I’ve owned every iPhone generation since I was twelve years old and was perceptible to differences in color/contrast between new displays, which was one of my favorite reasons for upgrading annually: it’s rare that Apple didn’t improve the display and a hundred other little refinements.

That’s also why I quite like the third-generation iPhone SE, as every aspect is improved in some capacity compared to the previous generation.

Still, I’d admittedly love to be back on the annual upgrade cycle with the latest-and-greatest flagship iPhone. The OLED display presents such a massive difference to an enthusiast such as myself, and it’s still disappointing but I’ll have to continue to accept that I’m sensitive to the current PWM and no amount of time or settings will change that. We need to wait on Apple to continue improving the brightness controller on iPhone.
 
I tried iPhone 12 Pro Max and despite immensely enjoying that phone the headaches were about as bad as iPhone X. I would rate symptoms at a 9 comparatively.

iPhone 13 Mini was a 4 on the same scale, which is why it’s still difficult for me to give it up. It provides a better experience than iPhone SE, but still causes headaches that are subdued and the flickering can be noticeable at times.

It’s a notable improvement overall and I’m not surprised that users with moderate levels of eye strain are able to use it without issues.

I’m definitely in the top 1% of users that experience PWM sensitivity, although I’ve only ever had issues with these latest iPhones. I’m incredibly perceptible to it, which also isn’t surprising since I’ve owned every iPhone generation since I was twelve years old and was perceptible to differences in color/contrast between new displays, which was one of my favorite reasons for upgrading annually: it’s rare that Apple didn’t improve the display and a hundred other little refinements.

That’s also why I quite like the third-generation iPhone SE, as every aspect is improved in some capacity compared to the previous generation.

Still, I’d admittedly love to be back on the annual upgrade cycle with the latest-and-greatest flagship iPhone. The OLED display presents such a massive difference to an enthusiast such as myself, and it’s still disappointing but I’ll have to continue to accept that I’m sensitive to the current PWM and no amount of time or settings will change that. We need to wait on Apple to continue improving the brightness controller on iPhone.
Am in the same boat. Loved the 13 mini and the size but caused a few headaches but seemed to have stopped for the most part - don't know if it's software updates but just don't find the screen comfortable - something about the whites are off for me. I tried blue screen protectors, white point, etc just didn't work. Am just worried that the PWM is ultimately affecting my health in other ways eg sleep, etc. Came from the SE 2020 before the 13 mini, screen was better but battery left a lot to be desired. I just ordered the SE 2022 which I will be picking up tomorrow. If worst comes to the worst I will go back and grab the 2016 SE off my wife who uses it as a spare phone. That screen was probably the most comfortable I ever used !
 
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I am picking up iPhone SE (3rd generation) today, and I am very excited for the new processor (A13 to A15), additional RAM (3 GB to 4 GB), longer battery life (2 additional hours), and 5G support compared to iPhone SE (2nd generation).

I stare at a computer screen (LG UltraFine 5K) all day for work and night for graduate school courses; there is no reason to deliberately cause headaches for myself with an OLED PWM phone display.
I bought the SE 3 and had the same issues it felt like as I do with oled screens, I quit using it after 2 weeks and went back to the 11
 
On the spec sheet, the display of SE3 and the 11 are the same except for the size.
I suspect that @frito1224 experienced more eye strain on the SE3 simply because it’s smaller so everything on the screen is smaller which is a classic trigger for eye strain.
Small stuff is harder to focus on & the eye muscles fatigue after a while - creating pain.
 
Am in the same boat. Loved the 13 mini and the size but caused a few headaches but seemed to have stopped for the most part - don't know if it's software updates but just don't find the screen comfortable - something about the whites are off for me. I tried blue screen protectors, white point, etc just didn't work. Am just worried that the PWM is ultimately affecting my health in other ways eg sleep, etc. Came from the SE 2020 before the 13 mini, screen was better but battery left a lot to be desired. I just ordered the SE 2022 which I will be picking up tomorrow. If worst comes to the worst I will go back and grab the 2016 SE off my wife who uses it as a spare phone. That screen was probably the most comfortable I ever used !
I’ve been using dark mode always from day one. Maybe it helps… I do have more discomfort from all white screen.
 
Mmmm, I'd say thats likely due to dithering but the 11 also has this?
The 11 and SE3 both have the super special best LCD tech. They “should” be the same temporal dithering. I had problems with the 11 as well… and when looking at SE2 had similar discomfort as the 11 (until I figured out to wear corrective lenses, and/or used low power mode… which I suspected turned off whatever crazy screen color correcting the dithering was achieving.)
 
I bought the SE 3 and had the same issues it felt like as I do with oled screens, I quit using it after 2 weeks and went back to the 11
I am sorry to hear you had that reaction to the iPhone SE (2022).

I think everyone in this thread has been told that the problems they are experiencing is "all in their head" and not real, and that is frustrating; however, I am more skeptical when people report issues like yours and there is no clear reason. For instance, use of PWM for brightness control is a clear reason for eye strain and migraines. As iPhone SE (2022) does not use PWM, I'm not sure if your experience is actually "in your head" or not, especially as it sounds like iPhone 11 does not give you issues. Regardless, I hope you get things figured out. Best of luck.
 
Anecdotally, is the iPhone 13 pro any better than the iPhone 13 for those sensitive to these issue? I cannot use the iPhone 13.
 
There’s no guarantee and from the comments on this thread, the likelihood seems slim.
But you never know.
The only way to find out is buy one and try it.
If it bothers you - return it for a full refund within 14 days.
 
I’m trying a 13 Pro after having issues with the regular 13 back in October.

I felt like I had a migraine coming on fairly quickly and I felt mild pain behind my eyes but as I’ve used it for a few hours all of that has disappeared and I’m feeling ok using it. I hope this keeps up because it’s promising so far.
 
I bought the SE 3 and had the same issues it felt like as I do with oled screens, I quit using it after 2 weeks and went back to the 11
I had trouble with the SE2 display. I have no idea why. Going back to the 11 isn’t the worst thing. My SE 3 suffers from the kernel panic shutdowns being discussed on the forums. If software updates don’t fix that I can still use it as sort of a “stunt phone” like when I go sledding or biking, which is its purpose already. It still works. The shutdowns and reboots last only a minute.

But the 11 is still more current in that it does spatial audio and works with Air Tags. SE3 can’t.
 
I’m trying a 13 Pro after having issues with the regular 13 back in October.

I felt like I had a migraine coming on fairly quickly and I felt mild pain behind my eyes but as I’ve used it for a few hours all of that has disappeared and I’m feeling ok using it. I hope this keeps up because it’s promising so far.

I got a 13 myself and I’m not sure if it’s my vision or the phone but I keep reaching for my 11 Pro Max. I’ll likely be returning this 13 and trying the Pro Max maybe. I’d go back to my 11 PM but no 5G!

If only my V60 didn’t have issues with 5G. I still get data, just LTE. Having two Androids is out. Guess I’ll need to do the trade in now or it’ll cost too much. Oh well. No point in two Pro Max devices.

I really hope they’ll still let trade in after a return.
 
This is also extremely odd:

After months of attempting to use iPhone 13 Mini I get a throbbing migraine as if my nervous system wants to be using iPhone 13 Mini like it got accustomed to the flickering display.

These new iPhones are also incredibly frustrating since I have to go through multiple phones and should have just done the trade-in months ago on my old iPhone SE.
 
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I’m trying a 13 Pro after having issues with the regular 13 back in October.

I felt like I had a migraine coming on fairly quickly and I felt mild pain behind my eyes but as I’ve used it for a few hours all of that has disappeared and I’m feeling ok using it. I hope this keeps up because it’s promising so far.
Are you still using it?
 
i had the two phones compared side by side (same version of OS, same settings) and found that the text was much easier to read on the SE3. The text on the mini seemed not to be sharp.

Turns out I am not crazy
This may be interesting to you: https://iosref.com/res

This is why I would not use an iPhone 6 Plus, 7 Plus, or 8 Plus. This is why I would not use an iPhone 12 mini or 13 mini.
 
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