iPhone 15 Pro Max SEVERE Burn-in on my iPhone 15 Pro Max

[adam1080]

I don’t see how this is sensational at all.

OP is outlining what has happened, exclaiming their (justified imo) frustration, and showing evidence.

If this happened to me, I’d likely do the same for a few reasons:

• It feels good to vent frustration - especially to those who might ‘get it’ (Apple fans)
• Someone might have a solution I hadn’t thought of
• Others may have the same thing happen, making this a larger issue overall

That’s just me though. You do you, and I’ll do likewise.

Not gonna lie... there is some catharsis in communal venting with a general consensus that what I am experiencing is highly unusual/frustrating.

Maybe a bit less so when you get accused of lying or trying to deceive.

I also did get some great suggestions or knowledge(all this refurb talk) that I might not have otherwise known or thought of, community forums do serve a good purpose ultimately.

I'd return it rather than do a repair replacement process. You have a 14 Pro (unless you traded it in), so go back to that until you want to try one again (and stock returns).

Soooo, yeaaah... I switched to the IUP a few years back since I was buying new phones almost every year anyway. That and my parents/family had new enough phones that would last long enough without me passing down my phones to them again for a while.

With this mess I am tempted to return the phone, cancel the IUP and just pay for it outright and be done(but that assumes they have stock to do that...) We will see how things go tomorrow since I have given away all my old phones and have limited options.

 

[4389842]

Maybe i‘m misunderstanding your comment, but you can reboot in any lighting to see if the image persistence remains, unless this is something that only shows up in a dark environment.

That is the point here: the photo is made in a very dark environment with the screen probably on full blast. Many screens, LED and OLED alike will show ghosting in those conditions. Ghosting is not nice but it isn’t ’burn-in’

 

[whizkid11]

The last good iPhone was the 12 pro. Apple just keeps on producing crap ever since.

 

[NEPOBABY]

I’d like an OLED Mac, and I consider myself perfectly adequately informed.

Suitable OLED technology exists today, while we quite possibly could still be waiting for MicroLED laptop displays a decade from now.

Even the tiny Apple Watch MicroLED displays are still only rumoured to be coming in 2024 or 2025, nevermind any delays or displays of a larger size.

Yeah, burn in can be an issue with OLED, but very rarely to the extent that OP has it, and often not at all.

There are a lot of static elements on a computer's interface, like the Apple logo in the corner, that are not suitable for OLED. They do burn in. Some manufacturer's try to work around this with rapid pixel shifting, etc.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I haven’t seen anyone else try the same steps (grey background, darkened room etc) as the OP to reveal the burn-in/image retention.

OP is it visible in normal use?

Just wondering how common the issue might be.

 

[srikat]

Another user having the same problem:

https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/16zyc7q

 

[inducecurrent]

Try deleting "X"

 

[h.gilbert]

What I said was
"first I go to Apple. Then I may report what Apple's response was to the internet."

I did not say folks should not post the issue for discussion. Apple's response to such an issue is IMO essential to the discussion, and posting to the internet before contacting Apple is entirely different than posting after contacting Apple.

E.g. Apple might say "Oh you got a defective 15, here is a replacement" or Apple might say "Scr*w you" or Apple might say "Yes we know about that an iOS update will fix it" or any number of things that Apple might say. IMO pushing such an issue to the internet without first seeking Apple support is just wrong. And including Apple's response focuses the internet discussion and helps make the discussion meaningful.

I take it by your silence that you've realised it's not really sensationalist, as you originally said.

Why first go to Apple and then report on MR? Had this happened to me I would very likely say something to my friends or family - "hey have you seen what's up with my screen?...". In the same vein, why wouldn't I also do this with an online community that is *specifically* for discussion of Apple products? Get people talking, thinking about the problem, just as I would do in real life. Image if my friend's response was "don't talk to me, go to Apple first then come back to me" or words to that effect.

The magic of a thread is that you can post updates, and so later OP can report back as to what Apple said. It's not likely that Apple will tell OP the nitty gritty of the cause of the problem so it might still be of interest to people to discuss the cause.

 

[Matthew.H]

For Apple trade-ins, refurbished models have the same value as non-refurbished models. But when selling online on eBay or other platforms, refurbished models have a lower resale value. That's because refurbished models don't come with the original box (refurbished models come in a plain box), and also because many third-party refurbished models use substandard parts. Although Apple refurbished models use genuine Apple parts, the bad reputation refurbished models have due to problematic third-party refurbishment hangs over all refurbished electronics.

When selling used products online, users have to state whether or not the product was refurbished. If they omit that information, it is dishonest and unethical, and also a violation of certain platforms' rules.

When selling used having the original box or not has very little effect on resale value. I wouldn't be surprised if most people bin the box after taking the phone out of it. If you selling a phone that's at least a couple of years old which will be most of them as most people don't upgrade every year, then not having the box will make pretty much no difference to the average buyer looking to buy a used phone.

Yes there can be an issue with badly refurbed phones but I've never seen a site specifically say that it has to be listed if it was refurbished at one point. If I've bought a refurb phone from Apple and I sell it on after a couple of years I'm not going to say that I bought it as a refurb because it doesn't matter as long as the device works properly.

 

[sumarlidason]

When selling used having the original box or not has very little effect on resale value.

I've had buyers ask for the box before, I think it gives them a little confidence the item isn't stolen. Always keep my boxes. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Matthew.H]

I've had buyers ask for the box before, I think it gives them a little confidence the item isn't stolen. Always keep my boxes. 🤷‍♂️

I haver have tbh but like you I keep the boxes and say it's included when selling a phone on. I doubt it makes as much difference when selling an older phone.

 

[jezbd1997]

I would expect that level of screen burn in from a 2+ year old phone, but a phone less than 2 weeks old????? Return it ASAP, it doesn't make any sense!

not even 2 years should be an issue, my 11 pro was perfect before i sold it and not an issue with my 13 pro

 

[HarryMudd]

Maybe I’m off the mark, but have you tried resetting the phone back to factory and doing an “as new” restart?

 

[_92dopal]

I have the same issue. Posted a separated thread. But here we go:

 

[goonie4life9]

So the gist is there is no reliable way to tell, exactly what I feel, and how ridiculous that anecdote is.

There is no reliable way to tell what? There are different model numbers. The replacement phones always have an N model number. This early, they are likely factory new and there likely no refurbished phones in circulation.

 

[adam1080]

That is the point here: the photo is made in a very dark environment with the screen probably on full blast. Many screens, LED and OLED alike will show ghosting in those conditions. Ghosting is not nice but it isn’t ’burn-in’

Incorrect. On "full blast" at night, it is not really visible. All those photos are with the phone at 5-20% brightness which is how normal humans would use a phone in the dark. It makes the "burn-in", "ghosting", whatever you want to call it MASSIVELY noticeable in typical night time conditions.

 

[adam1080]

I haven’t seen anyone else try the same steps (grey background, darkened room etc) as the OP to reveal the burn-in/image retention.

OP is it visible in normal use?

Just wondering how common the issue might be.

It is visible in any dark mode grey background. Settings, MacRumors, Google Maps, you name it. So if you like and use Dark Mode like I do, you see it constantly.

 

[chrono1081]

Wow. And so soon too.

That's why I don't think this is burn in, burn in takes a long time. I'm wondering if it's some weird persistence issue due to a faulty display.

 

[Populus]

I’m gonna watch how this develops.

OP, don’t try to convince those who try to label you as a liar. That’s the easiest way to discredit someone’s experiences. Most of us believe you, why would you post such thing if it wasn’t true, wasting precious time of your life?

Now, my advice, as others pointed, return it while you’re on your 14 day period. Report the issue when returning it, but I wouldn’t try to get it repaired. A thousand bucks phone shouldn’t have to be repaired after 12 days.

The only issue is that maybe there isn’t stock, in which case, well, hopefully they have replacement units.

 

[OneBar]

It is visible in any dark mode grey background. Settings, MacRumors, Google Maps, you name it. So if you like and use Dark Mode like I do, you see it constantly.

Have you noticed any diminishing over time of the "ghosts"? This is likely image retention and if so should fade after a while. I'm also wondering if maybe this might be an OLED screen management bug that Apple hasn't found yet. I would think they have some kind of pixel shuffling management built in to prevent image retention like this. Or it might be a bad panel/controller and it's not doing it.

So I think I may have missed what you're doing now, did you send it in for repair or replace?

 

[3xBoom]

Sorry for OP's troubles. Must be a maddening experience. My iPhone 12mini looks better and better with every passing day.

 

[NEPOBABY]

Apple doesn't make the displays anyway.

And it is impossible to test every screen.

So a few duds will filter through to customers.

 

[R2DHue]

Well, for the last week and a half I have been touting the iPhone 15 Pro/ProMax as one of the best iPhones in years. Despite incremental changes, it is greater than the sum of its parts. I also had ZERO issues with over-heating and thought those claims were rare and blow out of proportion.

Then last night I saw something I have never experienced on an iPhone. Terrible and VERY noticeable burn-in. This was never an issue on my X, 11 Pro, 13 Pro or 14 Pro OLED screens.

View attachment 2288347

You can clearly see the Photos App, Notes App, Clock App, Calendar App with "22or 3ish)" and below the the "X" app that is the main home page of my phone here:

View attachment 2288350

View attachment 2288354

I then decided to go play a gray "Uniformity" Video on YouTube that I had played about a week early after reading a post here that some users were seeing issues with their display on brightness uniformity issues from one side of their screen to another. At a couple days old, my iPhone looked great.

Last night... these were the results:

View attachment 2288356

View attachment 2288357

I only 2 days ago turned off the Always On Display option, but the calendar clearly shows 22 ish burned-in. Auto-lock has been set at 2 minutes since the restore on launch day.

I have AppleCar+ Theft and Loss. Just not sure when to take it back at this point.

Disappointed that in less than 14 days something like this was even possible under normal use.

Because OLED sucks. It’s the first time burn-in has been an issue since CRT displays.

First, OLED has perfect blacks and, yes, higher contrast, but far lower brightness.

But despite all you read from reviewers who spend a short amount of time reviewing OLED TVs and other devices, OLED still has screen burn-in issues.

And as far as the O in OLED, the organic materials do degrade over time.

I’ve seen used OLED displays where ALL the organic material has left all of one sub-pixel the whole screen over (looking through a high power magnifying glass) and these dead sub-pixels don’t illuminate at all. Color is all screwed up. (It makes the skin and the colors on The Simpsons look normal.)

Not so with micro LED.

Like OLED, micro LED offers self-illuminating pixels for each individual pixel, which can each be completely turned off, yielding perfect blacks. And perfectly isolated as well, so zero blooming. And much brighter.

The only place I can see micro LED improving after this, is, perhaps, separate lighting of each R, G and B sub-pixel.

(Yet that would only be appreciable to the human eye on a GIGANTIC-enough screen.)

OLED will be obsolete and micro LED will replace it. (But it can’t be soon enough.)

Off-topic, display manufacturers have tried displays that added a Y sub-pixel for yellow to RGB or a W for pure white, but after this brief experiment, they’ve all been discontinued and returned to RGB, afaik.

No one has yet improved upon Red, Green and Blue sub-pixels in color quality and picture quality.

(But I’m certainly open to it.)

And no, none of the below attached images are the result of “mustuned” color adjustments:

 

[StudioMacs]

First, OLED has perfect blacks and, yes, higher contrast, but far lower brightness.

I’ve never understood this.

An LED with 2,000 nits peak brightness would have greater contrast between black and white than an OLED with 1,000 nits peak brightness.

Granted the LED won’t have absolute blacks, but the difference (or contrast) will be greater on the 2,000 nit panel than the 1,000 nit panel.

 

[R2DHue]

I’ve never understood this.

An LED with 2,000 nits peak brightness would have greater contrast between black and white than an OLED with 1,000 nits peak brightness.

Granted the LED won’t have absolute blacks, but the difference (or contrast) will be greater on the 2,000 nit panel than the 1,000 nit panel.

mini LED won’t have absolute blacks. Those displays all have “dimming zones” where only a group of LEDs can be turned off — not even the individual ones.

But micro LED can have absolute blacks if each individual pixel is backlit and the backlight of each pixel can be turned completely off.

As for OLEDs being lower in terms of brightness? IDK. You’d have to read all the reviews and OLED technical analysis as to the why.

I consistently read that OLEDs aren’t as bright, but I don’t know enough to explain the why…