Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

Status
The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.

Are you experiencing this issue?

  • Total voters
    2,018
A mac is so much more versatile than an iPad - and when time goes by and apple discontinues support for the iPad, Safari begins to die with it - with no updates either.
Get a Mac for home. Firefox browser gets updates long after the OS gets culled.
DJTaurus said:
Yeah. I have a debate what to do next. MBA or iPad mini for home usage. Maybe i ll go for that MBA M4….. i believe its with an LCD if i am not wrong.
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: uacd
I just got a reply from mobile sentrix for their XO7 soft oled:

1. Our XO7 Quality that we have our manufactures make custom to our standards and requirements. We include an extra layer of warranty OLED Breakage, well cover any internal damage as long as the screen isn't physically cracked.
2.Yes our XO7 Quality has DC-like dimming capabilities
 
  • Like
Reactions: VadimVV, now i see it and Heman87
DJTaurus said:
I just got a reply from mobile sentrix for their XO7 soft oled:

1. Our XO7 Quality that we have our manufactures make custom to our standards and requirements. We include an extra layer of warranty OLED Breakage, well cover any internal damage as long as the screen isn't physically cracked.
2.Yes our XO7 Quality has DC-like dimming capabilities
Click to expand...
Wow. Very nice news. I’m very curious about your experience.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJTaurus
DJTaurus said:
Yeah. I have a debate what to do next. MBA or iPad mini for home usage. Maybe i ll go for that MBA M4….. i believe its with an LCD if i am not wrong.
Click to expand...
It is gonna be a great machine for you, but consider getting 15’, better screen real estate is always pleasant for eyes
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJTaurus
So I’ve been experimenting with phones again lately.

I pushed, and pushed, and pushed to use a 15PM and make it work. Despite some good days a week or two in, I’d be lying to myself if I said it didn’t give me major headaches.

Also have a 17 Pro from work because it was my renewal period and I figured nothing to lose. I haven’t used that much because it’s sim locked and I need T-Mobile and Verizon so I plan on experimenting more with that later. But early signs were not good.

Then I tried an SE3. While that is better, it’s still not perfect.

Then back to the XR. So, so much better than the others.

Looking at my old SE2, the XR and SE3, the XR and SE2 look very similar. The SE3 is much warmer toned, but it’s also practically neon looking. The best example is the health icon. The heart is so bright on the SE3 but looks much more muted on the XR and SE2.

What is this?! Temporal dithering? It’s insane.
 
du57in said:
So I’ve been experimenting with phones again lately.

I pushed, and pushed, and pushed to use a 15PM and make it work. Despite some good days a week or two in, I’d be lying to myself if I said it didn’t give me major headaches.

Also have a 17 Pro from work because it was my renewal period and I figured nothing to lose. I haven’t used that much because it’s sim locked and I need T-Mobile and Verizon so I plan on experimenting more with that later. But early signs were not good.

Then I tried an SE3. While that is better, it’s still not perfect.

Then back to the XR. So, so much better than the others.

Looking at my old SE2, the XR and SE3, the XR and SE2 look very similar. The SE3 is much warmer toned, but it’s also practically neon looking. The best example is the health icon. The heart is so bright on the SE3 but looks much more muted on the XR and SE2.

What is this?! Temporal dithering? It’s insane.
Click to expand...

SE2 is from 2020. SE3 is 2022, and from what I’ve seen in posts here, they were produced as recently as the winter/spring 2025. There’s been a marked shift since 2022 even in the LCD manufacturing market. It’s likely also dithering if it’s on later iOS versions (17 and up).

I’ve noticed this with the MacBook Airs and iPads that are on IPS LCD screen. Grab an M1 Air or the Touchbar Pros and you’ll see a difference in the IPS LCD quality. Go even further back to 2015-2019 and you’ll see an even bigger difference. I have a 2015 15” MBP that is falling apart and flickers like crazy, but it’s very clear that the screen and OS (Catalina) is so much calmer and legible compared to newer screens and anything Big Sur and up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: asus389 and now i see it
DJTaurus said:
Maybe i am the only user in here that has tested LCD incells on oled iphones from so many manufactures......EK Pro, RJ, JK, EBR.... you name it.....no success.... i also tried recently a ZY incell LCD for iphone 16e..... funny thing was that it was worse even than the OG OLED of 16e..... huge pressure and pain in my eyes....

SO PWM is not the only factor of our issues..... i have found a tolerable solution. I use 16e outside home and when in home i use iphone 11 for social media.... its ok... i can live with that.

But my search is not over.... i ordered a soft oled replacement from mobile sentrix (so7) that some users have said that it has DC dimming and doesnt bother them at all. We shall see in couple of days!
Click to expand...

iPhone screen has at least 2 layers, you need to replace all of them to see the actual impact.
 
I think the last iPhone/iPad to have an sRGB LCD was the iPhone 6s and iPad 8th gen. Even the iPhone 7 had some support for P3 which suggests dithering assuming the OS and image assets are P3.

Has anyone seen the SE3 refurbished for sale on Apple’s site? In theory if you buy a refurbished from Backmarket and select “Premium” you get original parts. Also uBreakIFix uses real Apple parts in some cases. Has anyone tried either?

Edit: I think the iPads 9th and 10th were sRGB also, but at some point they added True Tone.
 
Last edited:
asus389 said:
In theory if you buy a refurbished from Backmarket and select “Premium”
Click to expand...
I purchased a refurbished 6S Plus on BackMarket 2 years ago and it was perfect and still is. It was designated as Premium by their rating. I use it every day still on ios 15. I purchased it specifically for the sRGB color space it uses. It is BY FAR the most eye and nervous system friendly iPhone display they've ever made. Very nice phone.

And yes- the iPhone 7 marked the beginning of the end of iPhone screen quality. The faked P3 color gamut attempted through enhanced temporal dithering was introduced - and it got even worse with the iPhone 8 Plus.
It was the 8 Plus that drove me to viewing everything in grayscale - and I got used to seeing everything on that phone in black and white - and now much prefer it on any iphone.
-------

I recently purchase an "excellent" rated SE3 (not Premium) from BackMarket, since I had such a good experience with my 6S, but it was a dud - exhibiting ghost touches. I also purchased a "Fair" rated SE3 from them but the battery was at 69% when I got it. I returned them both. They refunded quickly.

BackMarket is a market place that refurbishers use. Its a front company. The buyer can not ask any questions about a particular device or see any pictures of it. The prospective buyer only gets to choose between 4 different categories: Fair, Good, Excellent, or Premium. Thats it. Whatever the battery health or status is, you wont know until you get the phone.
You'll also not know what sort of "refurbishing" was done to the phone.

After my recent two-in-a-row bad iphones going the refurbished BackMarket route, I decided, that in the future, if I wanted to buy a discontinued iphone, I'd rather go with a "Mint" or New unit on Swappa that's never been tampered with.
 
Last edited:
DJTaurus said:
Most people in here are with 11 or se3.... so you are kinda sensitive :)...... i am having serious issues with iphone XS back then.
Click to expand...
Yeah I actually returned a XS back in the day (ended up hanging onto 8 Plus until the 11 came out) because looking at it felt like sandpaper.

And no @ultravegeta1981 I just use it rather normally, with auto-brightness enabled (I also use reduce motion/transparency, though, in addition to pulse smoothing).

The OLED iPhones of today are such a marked improvement compared to that dastardly XS, at least for someone like me who is moderately sensitive to PWM. I have been okay with many different OLED iPhones since upgrading from the 11, including the 12, 13 mini, 15, 16 Plus, 16 Pro Max, and now 17 Pro Max. I did however have to exchange the 17 Pro Max a couple of times to secure one with a G9N display which my eyes certainly seem to favor.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ninnie7, super chimp, ultravegeta1981 and 1 other person
iLuddite said:
Yeah I actually returned a XS back in the day (ended up hanging onto 8 Plus until the 11 came out) because looking at it felt like sandpaper.

And no @ultravegeta1981 I just use it rather normally, with auto-brightness enabled (I also use reduce motion/transparency, though, in addition to pulse smoothing).

The OLED iPhones of today are such a marked improvement compared to that dastardly XS, at least for someone like me who is moderately sensitive to PWM. I have been okay with many different OLED iPhones since upgrading from the 11, including the 12, 13 mini, 15, 16 Plus, 16 Pro Max, and now 17 Pro Max. I did however have to exchange the 17 Pro Max a couple of times to secure one with a G9N display which my eyes certainly seem to favor.
Click to expand...


So u tried a couple 17 pros and they were straining your eyes but youve found one which does not ?
 
ultravegeta1981 said:
So u tried a couple 17 pros and they were straining your eyes but youve found one which does not ?
Click to expand...
Sort of, the first one (G9P) had a pretty obvious green tint which definitely made me feel uneasy, but I’m not sure if I’d call it eye strain per se. The first exchange unit the Apple Store gave me had such a bad shift at an angle that they immediately replaced it; I didn’t have it long enough to see which display make it used.

The final exchange model is simply very comfortable and quality-looking, same as my G9N 16 Pro Max (because this one’s also G9N).

Much, much more information can be found in the iPhone 17/Air display lottery thread.
 
iLuddite said:
Sort of, the first one (G9P) had a pretty obvious green tint which definitely made me feel uneasy, but I’m not sure if I’d call it eye strain per se. The first exchange unit the Apple Store gave me had such a bad shift at an angle that they immediately replaced it; I didn’t have it long enough to see which display make it used.

The final exchange model is simply very comfortable and quality-looking, same as my G9N 16 Pro Max (because this one’s also G9N).
Click to expand...
I just bought a new 17 pro with panel G9Q,and its usable now!! Cant believe its been 1 hour and no watery eyes no more. Ill test it further to know for sure but this one looks ok.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: MICHAELSD, Ninnie7 and iLuddite
ultravegeta1981 said:
I just bought a new 17 pro with panel G9Q,and its usable now!! Cant believe its been 1 hour and no watery eyes no more. Ill test it further to know for sure but this one looks ok.
Click to expand...
Yay!!! That one is LG I think—many people like and prefer those! So happy for you, and maybe it’s a good thing there are different display manufacturers and qualities to suit different eyes, now that I think about it….
 
iLuddite said:
Yay!!! That one is LG I think—many people like and prefer those! So happy for you, and maybe it’s a good thing there are different display manufacturers and qualities to suit different eyes, now that I think about it….
Click to expand...
Thanks! I just read that its a samsung panel and 2nd tier quality wise lol. I dont give a F about quality its pretty good now i can use the phone. Bought a 512gb one this time the other 256gb is on marketplace.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: Heman87 and iLuddite
ultravegeta1981 said:
Thanks! I just read that its a samsung panel and 2nd tier quality wise lol. I dont give a F about quality its pretty good now i can use the phone. Bought a 512gb one this time the other 256gb is on marketplace.
Click to expand...
Yes it is Samsung, sorry I’m dumb lol. Anyway enjoy your new phone and best of luck to those still searching or holding out for something better for the PWM-sufferers
 
  • Like
Reactions: ultravegeta1981
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back