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Donnation

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Nov 2, 2014
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I took a photo of two XS MAX's to show the difference of screen at a different viewing angle. Mine is on the left, purchased on launch day. The one on the right is one purchased yesterday buy a friend directly from the Apple Store. There is a very noticeable pink Hue on the one right. Is the pink hue supposed to be there when the phone is tilted or is mine not right?

IMG_6745.jpg
 
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shadow82x

macrumors 6502
Jul 11, 2012
445
193
New Jersey
I took a photo of two XS MAX's to show the difference of screen at a different viewing angle. Mine is on the left, purchased on launch day. The one on the right is one purchased yesterday buy a friend directly from the Apple Store. There is a very noticeable pink Hue on the one right. Is the pink hue supposed to be there when the phone is tilted or is mine not right?

View attachment 792011
Your's is definitely a better display. I'd take a non-tinted phone any day. I originally had a phone display like yours on the left and decided to continue the OLED lotto (thinking I could get one with a cooler temp) and all my new ones have that purple tint to the right.
 

BAZ1307

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2011
122
85
Newcastle, UK
Is TT on or off?

CC
It’s off, I pretty much always leave it off unless I’m in a dark room late at night.

Nope, I can't see it and I'm very sensitive to these things, and I've returned numerous iPhones and iPads over the years for yellow and pink tint.
It’s not a major tint change, you probably don’t notice it because you don’t know where to look. When you use the phone for a good few minutes, you start noticing how the keyboard looks different to the top of the display. I guess I’m just even more sensitive to these issues unfortunately. :(

My X was never like this, it was a bit yellow but it didn’t have the gradient effect.
 

thelead

macrumors 6502a
Apr 30, 2010
608
265
I took a photo of two XS MAX's to show the difference of screen at a different viewing angle. Mine is on the left, purchased on launch day. The one on the right is one purchased yesterday buy a friend directly from the Apple Store. There is a very noticeable pink Hue on the one right. Is the pink hue supposed to be there when the phone is tilted or is mine not right?

View attachment 792011
I’ve seen phones with pink hues when tilted... they don’t look as good as ones with just blue shift IMO.
 

4254126

Cancelled
Jun 20, 2017
828
855
Well I'm getting a replacement sent out by Apple and will be allowed to send my current one back after the new one arrives. I will be comparing both and if the new one isn't flawless, both will be going back.

I feel like many are trying to convince themselves that OLED has warmer tones, is prone to shifting and what else is being discussed on here.

Facts are: All my other calibrated displays (including iMac / MacBook Pro / iPad Pro / iP8+) all share the same screen temperature and it is the XS Max that stands out by a far amount. With True Tone the screen go so much more yellow, it's mad. It like night shift on steroids. The screen looks perfect off axis, but that's not the point. Colour filters cause loss of contrast and I just can't live with that.

If the next one isn't good, they'll both have to go back. No excuse for Apple here. If they talk about "individually calibrated displays" on their keynotes and charge way over 1.000€ for phone, I expect the best of the best.
 

thelead

macrumors 6502a
Apr 30, 2010
608
265
Well I'm getting a replacement sent out by Apple and will be allowed to send my current one back after the new one arrives. I will be comparing both and if the new one isn't flawless, both will be going back.

I feel like many are trying to convince themselves that OLED has warmer tones, is prone to shifting and what else is being discussed on here.

Facts are: All my other calibrated displays (including iMac / MacBook Pro / iPad Pro / iP8+) all share the same screen temperature and it is the XS Max that stands out by a far amount. With True Tone the screen go so much more yellow, it's mad. It like night shift on steroids. The screen looks perfect off axis, but that's not the point. Colour filters cause loss of contrast and I just can't live with that.

If the next one isn't good, they'll both have to go back. No excuse for Apple here. If they talk about "individually calibrated displays" on their keynotes and charge way over 1.000€ for phone, I expect the best of the best.
Let us know how it goes but I’ve yet to see a ‘good’ screen across dozens of phones. I’m guessing you’ll be sending both back.
 

4254126

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Jun 20, 2017
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Let us know how it goes but I’ve yet to see a ‘good’ screen across dozens of phones. I’m guessing you’ll be sending both back.
Possibly :( But I just will stop following this thread and know that if I'm happy with the display, that's that. But no one can tell me it's normal. Some may not notice, I'm sure I would have in the past. But maybe with 6 iPhones now I've always been lucky!
 

Donnation

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Nov 2, 2014
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Well I'm getting a replacement sent out by Apple and will be allowed to send my current one back after the new one arrives. I will be comparing both and if the new one isn't flawless, both will be going back.

I feel like many are trying to convince themselves that OLED has warmer tones, is prone to shifting and what else is being discussed on here.

Facts are: All my other calibrated displays (including iMac / MacBook Pro / iPad Pro / iP8+) all share the same screen temperature and it is the XS Max that stands out by a far amount. With True Tone the screen go so much more yellow, it's mad. It like night shift on steroids. The screen looks perfect off axis, but that's not the point. Colour filters cause loss of contrast and I just can't live with that.

If the next one isn't good, they'll both have to go back. No excuse for Apple here. If they talk about "individually calibrated displays" on their keynotes and charge way over 1.000€ for phone, I expect the best of the best.

You do realize that none of your other device screens are OLED, so the comparison between them isn’t equal.
 

Mr$tone

macrumors 6502
Oct 25, 2017
460
457
It’s off, I pretty much always leave it off unless I’m in a dark room late at night.


It’s not a major tint change, you probably don’t notice it because you don’t know where to look. When you use the phone for a good few minutes, you start noticing how the keyboard looks different to the top of the display. I guess I’m just even more sensitive to these issues unfortunately. :(

My X was never like this, it was a bit yellow but it didn’t have the gradient effect.
I had the same problem with my first XS Max after having a (for me) perfect X for a year which I was very satisfied with. Did an exchange yesterday and recieved a (for me) perfect screen. White/blue, not yellow. I’m so happy now. I’ll stare at this one for a year so it’s important that it feels perfect (for me). Now it does :)

I’ll stop reading this thread though... it almost made me go crazy before doing the exchange and frankly, I didn’t see much of a problem until starting to read this thread o_O
 
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BAZ1307

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2011
122
85
Newcastle, UK
I had the same problem with my first XS Max after having a (for me) perfect X for a year which I was very satisfied with. Did an exchange yesterday and recieved a (for me) perfect screen. White/blue, not yellow. I’m so happy now. I’ll stare at this one for a year so it’s important that it feels perfect (for me). Now it does :)

I’ll stop reading this thread though... it almost made me go crazy before doing the exchange and frankly, I didn’t see much of a problem until starting to read this thread o_O
Sadly I’ve just been to the Apple Store and was treat very rudely. There’s no issue with my phone and I’m just being ‘picky’. I’m definitely going to return the phone and just stay off the iPhone train for a little while if the other Apple Store near me says the same thing tomorrow. Totally gobsmacked tbh, what happened to the great Apple customer service?
 
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AdamA9

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2010
1,232
355
Apple needs to quit with the TrueTone garbage!

I use True Tone on both my iPhone and MacBook Pro. But, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I took a photo of two XS MAX's to show the difference of screen at a different viewing angle. Mine is on the left, purchased on launch day. The one on the right is one purchased yesterday buy a friend directly from the Apple Store. There is a very noticeable pink Hue on the one right. Is the pink hue supposed to be there when the phone is tilted or is mine not right?

View attachment 792011

Colour shift will happen when viewing the phone at an angle. It's normal.

Let us know how it goes but I’ve yet to see a ‘good’ screen across dozens of phones. I’m guessing you’ll be sending both back.

I'll post a picture of mine tonight.
[doublepost=1538664504][/doublepost]
Sadly I’ve just been to the Apple Store and was treat very rudely. There’s no issue with my phone and I’m just being ‘picky’. I’m definitely going to return the phone and just stay off the iPhone train for a little while if the other Apple Store near me says the same thing tomorrow. Totally gobsmacked tbh, what happened to the great Apple customer service?

I'm not surprised. From your picture there's nothing wrong with your screen. o_O
 

MVallee

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2007
810
183
Ontario, Canada
My screen is very uneven and goes from a yellowish colour at the top to a neutral white towards the bottom. Is this what is happing to everyone else? I checked in the Apple Store and their XS Max’es didn’t have the same issue from what I could tell.

I can notice this gradient on any app, but it’s seriously annoying when browsing web pages with white backgrounds, or even Reddit with the dark mode. I could live with an even yellowish hue from top to bottom, but not one that changes.

It actually also affects the screen outdoors, the top portion is not as bright as the bottom.

Here’s what mine looks like on the Calendar app:

This is what my first one was like. Any white or grey background and it was immediately noticeable and very distracting. The one I have now is still warm, but not yellow. It's also more even.

Sadly I’ve just been to the Apple Store and was treat very rudely. There’s no issue with my phone and I’m just being ‘picky’. I’m definitely going to return the phone and just stay off the iPhone train for a little while if the other Apple Store near me says the same thing tomorrow. Totally gobsmacked tbh, what happened to the great Apple customer service?

You are still within the 14 day return window so you should be able to return the iPhone for whatever reason and purchase a new one, which would come with another 14 day return window. No need to exchange it or explain to the "geniuses" why you are doing it. You paid a lot of money, and you are unhappy. That should be enough.
 

bevsb2

Contributor
Nov 23, 2012
4,964
15,040
My screen is very uneven and goes from a yellowish colour at the top to a neutral white towards the bottom. Is this what is happing to everyone else? I checked in the Apple Store and their XS Max’es didn’t have the same issue from what I could tell.

I can notice this gradient on any app, but it’s seriously annoying when browsing web pages with white backgrounds, or even Reddit with the dark mode. I could live with an even yellowish hue from top to bottom, but not one that changes.

It actually also affects the screen outdoors, the top portion is not as bright as the bottom.

Here’s what mine looks like on the Calendar app:

I can see a slight variation from top to bottom. It's hard to get a photo that shows the problem, especially with an OLED screen that shifts color with the slightest change of position. It's also hard to see the issue in the Apple store with the bright overhead lights and phones that are set on max brightness all day. If you are unhappy with the screen I would try at least one return and buying a new phone. Don't exchange as if you get a phone that is worse you may lose the option for further returns/exchanges.
 

Smoothie

macrumors 6502a
Jun 23, 2007
781
544
California
This is a long shot, but easy to try. Last year I bought an expensive Sony TV. I noticed that the display had three evenly divided areas with a noticeable border between the areas. It resulted in two vertical lines that were easily seen on a solid lighter background. Even though the panel looked squeaky clean with no dust, since it was new, I decided to clean the screen with a micro fiber cloth dampened with distilled water. That fixed the problem.

My theory was that there was some residue, maybe adhesive, that was left during manufacture or from the plastic film used to protect the TV during shipment.

I doubt that the XS screen variation is caused by this, but maybe someone can try cleaning the screen to see if it improves.
 

MrGimper

macrumors G3
Sep 22, 2012
8,995
12,898
Andover, UK
My voodoo seemed to have disappeared on my screen, and True Tone went proper yellow again. So, I did some fiddling around to try and recreate the events that caused it to get better before, and got it back to the "nice" settings and brightness I had before.

- Ensure you have True Tone on, auto brightness off, brightness at about 50%, no other filters/white point adjustments enabled.
- Go into a dark room, and I mean quite dark, I went into my kitchen under-stairs cupboard lol
- Enable auto brightness, and your screen will go very dim, the slider will probably go all the way to the left or pretty much all the way.
- Enable True Tone
- Turn off auto brightness
- Slide the brightness slider back to 50%

I bet your True Tone looks less yellow now... mine does and my screen is much brighter than initially.

Definitely some oddness going on, and I would swear the screen changes temperature even with True Tone off!
 

4254126

Cancelled
Jun 20, 2017
828
855
You do realize that none of your other device screens are OLED, so the comparison between them isn’t equal.

Erm... obviously. But that has nothing to do with the colour temperature. Regular white should be at around 6500k. From some of the reviews I see, XS Max has a warmer colour temperature than the XS or the X.
 
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jonstatt1

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2015
281
102
My screen is very uneven and goes from a yellowish colour at the top to a neutral white towards the bottom. Is this what is happing to everyone else? I checked in the Apple Store and their XS Max’es didn’t have the same issue from what I could tell.

I can notice this gradient on any app, but it’s seriously annoying when browsing web pages with white backgrounds, or even Reddit with the dark mode. I could live with an even yellowish hue from top to bottom, but not one that changes.

It actually also affects the screen outdoors, the top portion is not as bright as the bottom.

Here’s what mine looks like on the Calendar app:

I can see it as I am also very sensitive to that. Where you see the top or bottom being brighter or darker, will vary on TT because that difference is because the hue is not uniform and depending on the lighting and TT compensation, you may find which side is brighter swaps. In my case the top is more neutral. I have only seen one XS max that looked fairly uniform but it went half blue and half pink tinted on an angle(not kidding)
 

Mr$tone

macrumors 6502
Oct 25, 2017
460
457
My voodoo seemed to have disappeared on my screen, and True Tone went proper yellow again. So, I did some fiddling around to try and recreate the events that caused it to get better before, and got it back to the "nice" settings and brightness I had before.

- Ensure you have True Tone on, auto brightness off, brightness at about 50%, no other filters/white point adjustments enabled.
- Go into a dark room, and I mean quite dark, I went into my kitchen under-stairs cupboard lol
- Enable auto brightness, and your screen will go very dim, the slider will probably go all the way to the left or pretty much all the way.
- Enable True Tone
- Turn off auto brightness
- Slide the brightness slider back to 50%

I bet your True Tone looks less yellow now... mine does and my screen is much brighter than initially.

Definitely some oddness going on, and I would swear the screen changes temperature even with True Tone off!
Reading your post makes me understand that this thread has totally freaked out... o_O

:)
 
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Harthag

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2009
2,014
2,565
U.S.
My voodoo seemed to have disappeared on my screen, and True Tone went proper yellow again. So, I did some fiddling around to try and recreate the events that caused it to get better before, and got it back to the "nice" settings and brightness I had before.

- Ensure you have True Tone on, auto brightness off, brightness at about 50%, no other filters/white point adjustments enabled.
- Go into a dark room, and I mean quite dark, I went into my kitchen under-stairs cupboard lol
- Enable auto brightness, and your screen will go very dim, the slider will probably go all the way to the left or pretty much all the way.
- Enable True Tone
- Turn off auto brightness
- Slide the brightness slider back to 50%

I bet your True Tone looks less yellow now... mine does and my screen is much brighter than initially.

Definitely some oddness going on, and I would swear the screen changes temperature even with True Tone off!
I can't believe what people are putting up with on a $1000-$2000 phone. So yeah, for $1K/$2K we need to use our phones in ideally lit environments where True Tone won't be as noticeable. Use your phone in perfect lighting conditions and then it'll look tolerable. Half the screen is slightly more yellow / pink than the other half, that's OK because it's minimal. Can't use True Tone in dim or normal environments because it turns things way too yellow. Can't look at the screen at a slight angle because then the color changes. Some of us get upset when viewing the screen at an angle because it looks better / more neutral than when viewing head-on where there is a yellow stain. We put up with pink color shift when (edit) many other high end (and many not high end) 2018 OLED phone on the market don't suffer from this. We need to tinker with brightness, color filters, enable and disable certain options, and do 50 other things to make the screen better that really don't make any difference at all; yet placebo effect and justification kick in and we tolerate it.

Holy jeez. Wake up people. For the money Apple is charging we shouldn't have to adjust a damn thing, or at least they could give us true unrestricted calibration options. No longer have a horse in this race as I've returned mine and am not re-buying. Always like reading this thread though. When my $550 Pixel 2XL looks better than my $1000 iPhone, I know that's my cue to give up and not tolerate this.
 

MrGimper

macrumors G3
Sep 22, 2012
8,995
12,898
Andover, UK
I can't believe what people are putting up with on a $1000-$2000 phone. So yeah, for $1K/$2K we need to use our phones in ideally lit environments where True Tone won't be as noticeable. Use your phone in perfect lighting conditions and then it'll look tolerable. Half the screen is slightly more yellow / pink than the other half, that's OK because it's minimal. Can't use True Tone in dim or normal environments because it turns things way too yellow. Can't look at the screen at a slight angle because then the color changes. Some of us get upset when viewing the screen at an angle because it looks better / more neutral than when viewing head-on where there is a yellow stain. We put up with pink color shift when (edit) many other high end (and many not high end) 2018 OLED phone on the market don't suffer from this. We need to tinker with brightness, color filters, enable and disable certain options, and do 50 other things to make the screen better that really don't make any difference at all; yet placebo effect and justification kick in and we tolerate it.

Holy jeez. Wake up people. For the money Apple is charging we shouldn't have to adjust a damn thing, or at least they could give us true unrestricted calibration options. No longer have a horse in this race as I've returned mine and am not re-buying. Always like reading this thread though. When my $550 Pixel 2XL looks better than my $1000 iPhone, I know that's my cue to give up and not tolerate this.

Cool story, but you do realise that the Pixel 2XL has its fair share of screen issues too?
 

Harthag

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2009
2,014
2,565
U.S.
Cool story, but you do realise that the Pixel 2XL has its fair share of screen issues too?
Absolutely. Got very lucky with it. Also went through a few of them, same principle. My friend's OnePlus 5T is better. Motorola phones at my local store are better. All far less expensive. Android and Google have optimized OLED features, Apple hasn't done a damn thing. But that's less to do with QC and off topic, and also factors into my phone decisions. I hold Apple to a higher standard than all the rest, though, because that's what they advertise. When in reality, they are just like every other greedy company out there with a brilliant marketing strategy.

I'm not OK with having to tinker with multiple things that ultimately result in just a band aid type of solution. Not for this price. I've done less tinkering and calibration on my TVs and PC monitors, but again, I have full control over those.

I know I sound angry, I'm not / can't convey emotion via typing. I enjoy discussing these things and don't like seeing people spending tons of coin and not getting what they pay for.
 
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Donnation

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Nov 2, 2014
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Absolutely. Got very lucky with it. Also went through a few of them, same principle. My friend's OnePlus 5T is better. Motorola phones at my local store are better. All far less expensive. Android and Google have optimized OLED features, Apple hasn't done a damn thing. But that's less to do with QC and off topic, and also factors into my phone decisions. I hold Apple to a higher standard than all the rest, though, because that's what they advertise. When in reality, they are just like every other greedy company out there with a brilliant marketing strategy.

I'm not OK with having to tinker with multiple things that ultimately result in just a band aid type of solution. Not for this price. I've done less tinkering and calibration on my TVs and PC monitors, but again, I have full control over those.

I know I sound angry, I'm not / can't convey emotion via typing. I enjoy discussing these things and don't like seeing people spending tons of coin and not getting what they pay for.

Lol most people are completely happy with their screen. It would be a massive issue being brought up by tech sites around the world. I’ve yet to see one of them bring it up, because the screen is beautiful for the majority of those who own the phone.
 
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