Other This is why I will not buy iPhone 12: OLED = PWM

[karinatwork]

I posted a video when the X was first launched. About how the X gave me headaches. That video is STILL getting comments to this day from people who didn't know why they were getting headaches when using any device with Apple's OLED screens. There are also some Android users out there who have that problem. It's not just "a select few". These screens are very bad for a lot of people. That said, I will try to preorder a 12 Mini and test it out. In my previous test, it took two days for me to show symptoms. The 14 day return policy will come in handy. If the 12 mini doesn't work, I will be getting an iPhone 11. (Using an XR right now without problems. Also my home is full of LED lights, no problems either).

 

[lordhamster]

I posted a video when the X was first launched. About how the X gave me headaches. That video is STILL getting comments to this day from people who didn't know why they were getting headaches when using any device with Apple's OLED screens. There are also some Android users out there who have that problem. It's not just "a select few". These screens are very bad for a lot of people. That said, I will try to preorder a 12 Mini and test it out. In my previous test, it took two days for me to show symptoms. The 14 day return policy will come in handy. If the 12 mini doesn't work, I will be getting an iPhone 11. (Using an XR right now without problems. Also my home is full of LED lights, no problems either).

Interesting. I always assumed my headaches were due to checking/answering emails on my phone after having worked a 16 hour day (aka stress). You could be on to something.

 

[iApple_man]

The X, XS and XMax, I couldn’t use so the XR was my choice, however Apple did respond to the PWM and the 11 Pro and Pro Max didn’t bother me. I will try the 12 and if it doesn’t work, I’m sticking with my 11 Pro.

 

[Dejected]

I will try the 12 and if it doesn’t work, I’m sticking with my 11 Pro.

please tell us the result after you try it

 

[vannix]

The end started with the iPhone X, and I’m still obliged to run a beautiful iPhone 8 Plus without eye blasting IR from Face ID and one of the best LCD ever used in a smartphone.

When will we be able to buy again a top of the line smartphone from you Apple?

you can quite accept PWM from light bulbs, as you don’t stare to them directly, but looking continuously at a strobo light from your device screen is evil.

EDIT
uh, and this also applies to macbook pros... ever checked your keyboard backlight? (I had to turn it off..) or the new 16” screens? They use pwm with lcd now and I’m still running an “old style” retina MacBook for this.

 

[iApple_man]

please tell us the result after you try it

I’m using it now and I can tell you thus far, it’s been normal.

I had to make sure I was doing things as normal ie: setting up phone, using it etc vs being hyper sensitive.

No eyestrain or headaches and to be honest, with the X, I knew right away but I wasn’t aware of why until I did research, and I returned the X after two days at that time.

Of course I will see how the weekend goes but based on my experience, something like this now, you know right away but I’m thankful for the 14 days. Remember this is my experience for me, and I’m sure you understand.

Apple has to do better though with communication or at least acknowledging and not just fixing things in the background.

Side note: I never had issues when I used Android phones. No hesitation at all with them. Most recent phone was with the Google Pixel 4 XL and the S10 Plus. Sometimes I switched between phones, well I wanted to experience the oleds while I had the XR.

 

[iApple_man]

I posted a video when the X was first launched. About how the X gave me headaches. That video is STILL getting comments to this day from people who didn't know why they were getting headaches when using any device with Apple's OLED screens. There are also some Android users out there who have that problem. It's not just "a select few". These screens are very bad for a lot of people. That said, I will try to preorder a 12 Mini and test it out. In my previous test, it took two days for me to show symptoms. The 14 day return policy will come in handy. If the 12 mini doesn't work, I will be getting an iPhone 11. (Using an XR right now without problems. Also my home is full of LED lights, no problems either).

Your video was the one that confirmed my experience after I returned the X. That’s something and it’s good that people find their way to your video.

I almost left Apple because of that but I was able to deal with the 11 Pro. I had the Max but got tired of that size but no PWM with that either. Thank you for that video though. Hopefully you can use the 12 mini when it’s out.

Oh, a tech reviewer on YouTube by the name of Zollotech talks about the PWM and why it happens. He even said he couldn’t use the X or the XS models either but was able to use the 11 pro series.

 

[brig2221]

Complete anecdotal non scientific post here. I suffer from PWM. I figured this out when I purchased an XS two years ago and had to return it back to my local Apple Store within 48 hours due to splitting headaches.

My wife just took advantage of the $800 trade in promo on her XR and got an iPhone 12. I just set it up and activated it for her, and I swear within a couple of minutes of using the phone, I could feel eye-strain/headache brewing.

As I noted, this is just my experience, and only for a very short period of time, but from that short amount of time I spent using it, it appears (AT LEAST FOR ME) that the PWM mess has not been solved or cared for on the new line of iPhone 12’s, at least at my level PWM sensitivity (which I assume is high), which is HUGELY DISAPPOINTING to me as there appears to be no future phone upgrade path for me.

I will continue to monitor the forums here over the coming days and weeks, and I hope that others may have better experiences with the iPhone 12 OLED screens than me. It appears from a recent posting that someone else noted they felt fine with the 12, so I will be very curious to see where this lands over the next couple of weeks as people check in.

 

[edhchoe]

Complete anecdotal non scientific post here. I suffer from PWM. I figured this out when I purchased an XS two years ago and had to return it back to my local Apple Stores within 48 hours due to splitting headaches.

My wife just took advantage of the $800 trade in promo on her XR and got an iPhone 12. I just set it up and activated it for her, and I swear within a couple of minutes of using the phone, I could feel eye-strain/headache brewing.

As I noted, this is just my experience, and only for a very short period of time, but from that short amount of time I spent using it, it appears (AT LEAST FOR ME) that the PWM mess has not been solved or cared for on the new line of iPhone 12’s, at least at my level PWN sensitivity (which I assume is high), which is HUGELY DISAPPOINTING to me as there appears to be no future phone upgrade path for me.

I will continue to monitor the forums here over the coming days and weeks, and I hope that others may have better experiences with the iPhone 12 OLED screens than me. It appears from a recent posting that someone else noted they felt fine with the 12, so I will be very curious to see where this lands over the next couple of weeks as people check in.

It is normal to get a headache during honey-do’s.

 

[AAG19]

Unfortunately, both iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro have visible PWM.

 

[RD207]

I’m using it now and I can tell you thus far, it’s been normal.

I had to make sure I was doing things as normal ie: setting up phone, using it etc vs being hyper sensitive.

No eyestrain or headaches and to be honest, with the X, I knew right away...

Thanks for the update. Please post back any new or additional insights this weekend as you check out the iPhone 12.

I will stop at my local carrier and check their display model. I had the same experience as you; no issues with OLED android phones (that I used) but also experienced immediate eye/migraines with the X series.

 

[RD207]

On Zollotech’s channel he shows and talks about OLED flicker on iPhones and mentions that starting with the 11 Pro, flicker hasn’t bothered him, however if you ARE very sensitive to it, it could be problematic and that the 11 regular LCD model would be the answer.

Brightness level measured in nits controls the rate the screen flashes.

The X, XS, XS Max were 625 nits... the Pro models are 800 nits.

The new 12 and Pro models all have higher nits AND higher resolution screens.

I tried a friend’s 11 Pro Max for about 15 min and it seemed fine, but I’m more interested in the new 12 for daily use.


@13:38 iPhone 12 (625-1200 nits max)

youtu.be/YH_DCqAmtxQ

@16:22 iPhone 12 Pro
AND 11 Pro (800-1200 nits max)

youtu.be/7VI4I8Z4Ax0

 

[Dejected]

Hi there
Today I got my IPhone 12 .. before I tell what happened I wanna tell you my last 2 years experience :

-I bought the iphone xs and had headache, nausea and eye tiredness then I sold it and return to Iphone 8 Lcd
-I bought the 11pro and had headache, nausea and eye tiredness then I sold it and got Iphone 11 Lcd

Today I got my iphone 12 and unfortunately after 20mins of usage I felt sick and had a nausea .. I'll give it a chance for 48 hors and if it's still the same I think I'm going back to the 11 Lcd

 

[RD207]

Hi there
Today I got my IPhone 12 .. before I tell what happened I wanna tell you my last 2 years experience :

-I bought the iphone xs and had headache, nausea and eye tiredness then I sold it and return to Iphone 8 Lcd
-I bought the 11pro and had headache, nausea and eye tiredness then I sold it and got Iphone 11 Lcd

Today I got my iphone 12 and unfortunately after 20mins of usage I felt sick and had a nausea .. I'll give it a chance for 48 hors and if it's still the same I think I'm going back to the 11 Lcd

Thanks for the update and that is very sad news...

I have the XR and I adjusted a few things right away despite no PWM;

Always
1) on - True Tone
2) on - settings > accessibility > vision > motion > reduce motion AND prefer cross fade
3) auto change dark theme

Night
1) night shift
2) quick launch white point reduction
3) manually adjust brightness
Auto brightness causes issues for me at night.

Maybe try adjusting some settings... idk, I may end up with an 11 as well or hanging onto my XR longer.

 

[jm31828]

I was at a store today and looked at the 12. I took slow motion video if it (from my iPhone 11), at 100% brightness there is still a pretty substantial flicker.

The flicker at 100% is no better than it is on my wife’s XS Max.

Video link below:

 

[F23]

Turn off attention awareness in Face ID settings and your eye strain will go away. Guaranteed.

 

[jm31828]

Turn off attention awareness in Face ID settings and your eye strain will go away. Guaranteed.

That is all off on my wife’s XS Max and it still bothers me.

 

[Squeak825]

Turn off attention awareness in Face ID settings and your eye strain will go away. Guaranteed.

That is simply not true.

 

[RD207]

That is simply not true.

Turning off attention can help some but it’s no guarantee...

I’m not sure there is a fix or anything that would help on an X series OLED... it’s been hashed out for years... most ditched it and went either to android or an LCD panel iPhone interim. A few seem ok with 11 Pro... 12 is a bit mixed.

I ordered the 12 today. If it works for me then great, if not then I am prepared to settle for the 11 and wait to try next years model.

 

[Squeak825]

Turning off attention can help some but it’s no guarantee...

I’m not sure there is a fix or anything that would help on an X series OLED... it’s been hashed out for years... most ditched it and went either to android or an LCD panel iPhone interim. A few seem ok with 11 Pro... 12 is a bit mixed.

I ordered the 12 today. If it works for me then great, if not then I am prepared to settle for the 11 and wait to try next years model.

Turning off attention awareness did nothing for me when I got an XS and had to return it.

 

[F23]

Turning off attention can help some but it’s no guarantee...

I’m not sure there is a fix or anything that would help on an X series OLED... it’s been hashed out for years... most ditched it and went either to android or an LCD panel iPhone interim. A few seem ok with 11 Pro... 12 is a bit mixed.

I ordered the 12 today. If it works for me then great, if not then I am prepared to settle for the 11 and wait to try next years model.

Have you tried keeping the brightness at max 24/7 and using reduce white point to change brightness instead? That's what I do. If the brightness is on max then there shouldn't be any PWM and with attention awareness off there's nothing that will bother your eyes.

Maybe some ppl are sensitive to blue light and need blue light glasses.

 

[The.Glorious.Son]

Have you tried keeping the brightness at max 24/7 and using reduce white point to change brightness instead? That's what I do. If the brightness is on max then there shouldn't be any PWM and with attention awareness off there's nothing that will bother your eyes.

Maybe some ppl are sensitive to blue light and need blue light glasses.

Unfortunately with the way Apple has implemented it’s version of OLED, even though Samsung has been a primary supplier, the unique specifications set by Apple have been proven to show that PWM is present even at 100%. There is no setting between 0 and 100% that PWM is eliminated on Apple’s panels.

 

[Boyyai]

Turn off attention awareness in Face ID settings and your eye strain will go away. Guaranteed.

You don’t know anything about this PWM thing. Read before typing. Respond instead of reacting.

 

[Samut]

I found this measurement of Iphone 11 pro max at different levels and it would look like PWM would be lowest at 50 percent brightness.

Has anyone tried to fix iPhone 11 pros or 12’s brightness at around this level instead of maximum brightness?

 

[The Jericho Initiative]

I just hate how Apple is not understanding How serious is the argument here.
They still use OLED displays that use PWM to modulate brigtness, and so they flicker!
30/40% OLED Smartphone Owner's are claiming infact, eyestrain, headhace, nausea, dizziness, motion sickness, that is mainly caused by the screen flicker.
a DC dimmimg option, like on the android side, will not fix the problem!! Its just a fresh candy excuse to keep the consumer to buy the product!

LG has new OLED panels (on their TV lineup), that are called "Self Lit", and they claim that those panels, are not using any backlight, so there is any Flickering or PWM used.I do really hope to see a change in display technology on future Iphones.

I really hope Apple can see and hear this message, because it is not only me, but 30% of your customers having problems like this!
Imagine using a strobo flashing light, and point it to your eyes for 5h, or more, a day. How would you feel? Confused? You are okay. It is normal. We just need the right technology, and this PWM thing, on a Display, it is garbage!

Please Apple do not use any PWM or Flickering Display in the future! (not only for Iphones, both for Mac, Ipad, Macbook).
Written on my SE 1st gen

If you want a pwm free display on next Apple devices, like and comment this post, to make it notice!

Not sure if it's been mentioned but... You should be aware that LG is supplying 20 Million 6.1" panels for the iPhone 12. Samsung is supplying 60 Million panels for the Pro Max and Mini.

I know the 6.1 panels differ between standard edition and pro. I do not know if this is indicative of the brand difference.