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iPhone 12 IPhone 12 OLED - black smearing

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Original poster
Mar 24, 2010
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I wrote a post already on this, but I didn’t know how to call the issue. I have since learnt it’s called OLED smearing.

I understand that all OLED screens do it a bit, but I do not know if my screen is worse than others, from this point of view.
Can you test if the same happens on your OLED iPhones and to what degree?

When do I notice it? When using my iPhone 12 in a dark room, with night mode on, and very low brightness (the Lower, the more evident the issue). So it’s not just a science experiment, it happens in normal life.
It happens when you have dark grey next to true blacks (Hence pixels are turned off).

E.g. In iphone settings or visiting a website like https://www.livescore.com

Issue: as you scroll up and down, the dark grey overflows / bleeds into the black for a second or so.
Strangely though, it doesn’t affect other colours, mainly dark greys.

My video:


My wife’s old phone didn’t do it as much, but her panel was worse than mine, with a yellower tinge on whites, and more greenish greys. I wonder if that contributed to it, as the dark grey was more green, hence less affected by the issue.
Her replacement iPhone 12 has a whiter panel (still a bit yellow, but it’s probably acceptable), and this has worse smearing.

I understand that all OLED screens do it a bit, but I do not know if my screen is worse than others, from this point of view.
Can you test if the same happens on your iPhones and to what degree?

There are several articles and references / complaints on the internet:
Example of the issue using an iphone X

Discussions:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/7awmtf

Twitter thread that mentions it, and provides a gif that highlights the issue.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1053519077958803456
 
1096bimu said:
It isn't
Click to expand...
Thanks.
Have you tested it on your device with an OLED screen? Is it as noticeable?

as mentioned in my post I have already witnessed two screens in front of me with two different behaviours, one better than the others with regard to the smudging...
 
renzopanta said:
Thanks.
Have you tested it on your device with an OLED screen? Is it as noticeable?

as mentioned in my post I have already witnessed two screens in front of me with two different behaviours, one better than the others with regard to the smudging...
Click to expand...
I've been using Samsung OLED phones since there was a Samsung OLED phone.

Yes it's on my OLED iPhones, don't really care, it was worse on my Galaxy S7 Edge, didn't care back then either.

BTW it's not on all OLED screens, it isn't on my OLED TV. My guess is it's a strategy to save power, which isn't necessary on a TV.
 
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You should see it on a pixel 3xl. That’s what I upgraded from this week and let me tell you, by comparison, these iPhones don’t have the smearing issue :p
 
kb2755 said:
You should see it on a pixel 3xl. That’s what I upgraded from this week and let me tell you, by comparison, these iPhones don’t have the smearing issue :p
Click to expand...
Good to know thanks.

The main point is on the variation of the issue, depending on the panel. As mentioned above, I saw a different behaviour in my model vs other 12s, where the smearing was lower. However, those had more yellow whites/ greenish greys, and when tilted, the screen turned bluish.

I wonder if that’s the trade off... perhaps due to the two main providers?
 
Thats normal and characteristics of these displays.
Personally i wouldn’t worry about it. You could wait for next year Iphone13 with 120Hz Displays and see if it is better.
 
this is my first ever OLED phone, I’m just surprised of the many compromises

I thought it would be a - no questions asked better technology - while it clearly comes with pros and some cons, in comparison to LCD.
 
A little update.
I’ve been to the Apple store - appointment with a genius.
He saw the smearing on my phone.
We compared it to other iPhones in the shop and the smearing was a lot lower. He was kind enough to do all the required to spot the issue. He filed it as an issue he observed. Suggested I get a replacement.
My conclusion, I know based on a small sample:
- Apple as we know uses different screen providers, some from Samsung some from LG.

- the one I have has slightly better whites (only marginally), keeps colours more uniformly, as you tilt the display (eg observing the phone while it’s sitting on your table, whites keep looking white).
But... it comes with bigger more obvious black smearing. A lot more obvious.

- the other panel is slightly more yellow (minor), whites looks blueish when tilted/viewing on an angle, but it had considerably less smearing. It’s not as noticeable. That would not bother me.

So, even playing the screen lottery doesn’t seem to be able to lead to a screen with no issues.
 
renzopanta said:
A little update.
I’ve been to the Apple store - appointment with a genius.
He saw the smearing on my phone.
We compared it to other iPhones in the shop and the smearing was a lot lower. He was kind enough to do all the required to spot the issue. He filed it as an issue he observed. Suggested I get a replacement.
My conclusion, I know based on a small sample:
- Apple as we know uses different screen providers, some from Samsung some from LG.

- the one I have has slightly better whites (only marginally), keeps colours more uniformly, as you tilt the display (eg observing the phone while it’s sitting on your table, whites keep looking white).
But... it comes with bigger more obvious black smearing. A lot more obvious.

- the other panel is slightly more yellow (minor), whites looks blueish when tilted/viewing on an angle, but it had considerably less smearing. It’s not as noticeable. That would not bother me.

So, even playing the screen lottery doesn’t seem to be able to lead to a screen with no issues.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure there is a correlation between black smearing and off axis colors/whites, at least not in the way you describe it. I tested this with my iPhone 11 Pro and my new 12 Pro. I use the settings screen in dark mode and brightness set to 0 and then scroll up and down.

On both phones the black smearing is visible but the 11 Pro has A LOT more smearing. Also, the 11 Pro is not as good as the 12 Pro when it comes to off axis colors. You need to tilt the 12 Pro considerable more before the off axis coloring starts to appear. To me, the 12 Pro has a much better screen, at least in respect to these two issues.
 
mackiee said:
I'm not sure there is a correlation between black smearing and off axis colors/whites, at least not in the way you describe it. I tested this with my iPhone 11 Pro and my new 12 Pro. I use the settings screen in dark mode and brightness set to 0 and then scroll up and down.

On both phones the black smearing is visible but the 11 Pro has A LOT more smearing. Also, the 11 Pro is not as good as the 12 Pro when it comes to off axis colors. You need to tilt the 12 Pro considerable more before the off axis coloring starts to appear. To me, the 12 Pro has a much better screen, at least in respect to these two issues.
Click to expand...
Hi,
I agree that there is not a correlation between black smearing and off axis colour shift, in general. So panels exist out there with either both issues or none of them.
But with the iPhone 12s I saw, it seems to be either one issue or the other.. have not seen one with neither of the two issues. Hence the assumption of the the two different providers and the differences in features
 
renzopanta said:
I wrote a post already on this, but I didn’t know how to call the issue. I have since learnt it’s called OLED smearing.

I understand that all OLED screens do it a bit, but I do not know if my screen is worse than others, from this point of view.
Can you test if the same happens on your OLED iPhones and to what degree?

When do I notice it? When using my iPhone 12 in a dark room, with night mode on, and very low brightness (the Lower, the more evident the issue). So it’s not just a science experiment, it happens in normal life.
It happens when you have dark grey next to true blacks (Hence pixels are turned off).

E.g. In iphone settings or visiting a website like https://www.livescore.com

Issue: as you scroll up and down, the dark grey overflows / bleeds into the black for a second or so.
Strangely though, it doesn’t affect other colours, mainly dark greys.

My video:
View attachment 1696351

My wife’s old phone didn’t do it as much, but her panel was worse than mine, with a yellower tinge on whites, and more greenish greys. I wonder if that contributed to it, as the dark grey was more green, hence less affected by the issue.
Her replacement iPhone 12 has a whiter panel (still a bit yellow, but it’s probably acceptable), and this has worse smearing.

I understand that all OLED screens do it a bit, but I do not know if my screen is worse than others, from this point of view.
Can you test if the same happens on your iPhones and to what degree?

There are several articles and references / complaints on the internet:
Example of the issue using an iphone X

Discussions:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/7awmtf

Twitter thread that mentions it, and provides a gif that highlights the issue.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1053519077958803456
Click to expand...
Brother. That’s totally normal on oled displays. All my oleds have done this smearing. It’s the nature of the beast.
 
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