Other This years screen lottery (17, 17 pro, 17 pro max and air)

[mattwestside]

Tossing in my use case as a data point; Both are 17 PMs at about 50% brightness, the silver (left) has a Samsung screen (G9N), the orange (right) has an LG (GH3) - couple observations:

-The Samsung panel holds onto the white color temp better, and does not introduce any tint or color shift at side-to-side or top-to-bottom angles. I watch a lot of videos and the LG's color shift is noticeable when moving the phone into and out of landscape.

-The LG panel has better uniformity when looking straight at the screen. The Samsung has a small amount of yellow-to-blue, or "warm" to "cool" color shift variance depending where I look on the panel. So reading website articles with a white background and black text is more pleasant to my eyes with the LG.

Additionally, after reading for an extended time, I find the LG panel to be "softer" to my eyes, in that I don't feel I suffer from PWM symptoms, but eye strain is a real thing and the Samsung panel seems to tire mine more than the LG.

Would I have noticed each panel's nuances if I didn't have them side by side? Probably not. Color shift on off-axis viewing with OLED has been around for a decade and a half and seems to be an accepted limitation of the technology for most consumers. Personally I wish mini-LEDs would advance faster than they have, but it sounds like that's still a ways off.

 

[rolan2q]

In my experience G9N is the best screen on iPhone. I’ve had G9P, GH and G9N was best.

 

[rolan2q]

Tossing in my use case as a data point; Both are 17 PMs at about 50% brightness, the silver (left) has a Samsung screen (G9N), the orange (right) has an LG (GH3) - couple observations:

-The Samsung panel holds onto the white color temp better, and does not introduce any tint or color shift at side-to-side or top-to-bottom angles. I watch a lot of videos and the LG's color shift is noticeable when moving the phone into and out of landscape.

-The LG panel has better uniformity when looking straight at the screen. The Samsung has a small amount of yellow-to-blue, or "warm" to "cool" color shift variance depending where I look on the panel. So reading website articles with a white background and black text is more pleasant to my eyes with the LG.

Additionally, after reading for an extended time, I find the LG panel to be "softer" to my eyes, in that I don't feel I suffer from PWM symptoms, but eye strain is a real thing and the Samsung panel seems to tire mine more than the LG.

Would I have noticed each panel's nuances if I didn't have them side by side? Probably not. Color shift on off-axis viewing with OLED has been around for a decade and a half and seems to be an accepted limitation of the technology for most consumers. Personally I wish mini-LEDs would advance faster than they have, but it sounds like that's still a ways off.

Good pics and analysis

 

[rolan2q]

Thx my latest Air is GVC and my 17 pro is G9N.

Is G9N the good one? I ask since my 17 Pro display looks pristine with G9N.

In my experience G9N is best followed by G9P, then all LG suck in comparison based on my experience

 

[G5isAlive]

I think this thread seems to show the opposite in this case. This year, with these models, there does seems to be a more obvious and pronounced variation from manufacturer to manufacturer rather than from any random screen to any other random screen. Clearly, we're seeing a predominance of green off-axis shift in LG panels, and not seeing that in the Samsung panels.

So people aren't hunting for some unicorn panel regardless of whether it's from LG or Samsung, they just want a Samsung panel because we're seeing those don't have the high incidence (ie. most) of green shift.

Every year we see the same thing. It’s all anecdotal…you talk about incidence with no real numbers, just confirmation bias. But okay, THIS is the year.

 

[NotApplicable]

Every year we see the same thing. It’s all anecdotal…you talk about incidence with no real numbers, just confirmation bias. But okay, THIS is the year.

Some people believe the first 3 characters are actually a grade assigned to the screen quality. Lol

 

[Lexicon44]

17 GVC to 17 G9P still have green tint (less noticeable than GVC) but Samsung still has it

You found the reverse unicorn? 🤣 The Samsung panel with green shift.

Would love to see photos of the two if you have them to see the difference.

 

[scrapdoo22]

Tossing in my use case as a data point; Both are 17 PMs at about 50% brightness, the silver (left) has a Samsung screen (G9N), the orange (right) has an LG (GH3) - couple observations:

-The Samsung panel holds onto the white color temp better, and does not introduce any tint or color shift at side-to-side or top-to-bottom angles. I watch a lot of videos and the LG's color shift is noticeable when moving the phone into and out of landscape.

-The LG panel has better uniformity when looking straight at the screen. The Samsung has a small amount of yellow-to-blue, or "warm" to "cool" color shift variance depending where I look on the panel. So reading website articles with a white background and black text is more pleasant to my eyes with the LG.

Additionally, after reading for an extended time, I find the LG panel to be "softer" to my eyes, in that I don't feel I suffer from PWM symptoms, but eye strain is a real thing and the Samsung panel seems to tire mine more than the LG.

Would I have noticed each panel's nuances if I didn't have them side by side? Probably not. Color shift on off-axis viewing with OLED has been around for a decade and a half and seems to be an accepted limitation of the technology for most consumers. Personally I wish mini-LEDs would advance faster than they have, but it sounds like that's still a ways off.

This is a very good example of the LG green shift that goofballs all over this thread want to act like doesn’t exist. Guys you don’t need to rag on people trying to get the better screen because you don’t care about the difference.

Some people don’t mind the green shift and go about their day just fine with an inferior screen and guess what? That’s the majority of customers. Let the 2 percent whine and share opinions on the matter without gaslighting on what they do and don’t see.

 

[Lexicon44]

This is a very good example of the LG green shift that goofballs all over this thread want to act like doesn’t exist.

In the second photo, the LG is farther away from the camera, meaning the camera is seeing the panel at an angle greater away from vertical than for the closer phone. This probably exaggerates the colour / brightness shift relative to the Samsung next to it.

Would be better to keep the camera centered between both phones and grab a photo with the camera tilted away from the bottom and away from the top of both. Like a flyover approaching from the bottom and from the top.

 

[iLuddite]

Dang now my G9P 17 Pro Max (256 GB, Silver) is starting to look awfully greenish...

Unfortunate since my G9N 16 Pro Max (256 GB, White Titanium) was basically perfect to my eyes.

I think I’ll give it a few days and see if I can adjust, but compared to the lovely display on my 14” M4 MacBook Pro it really does look quite green.

 

[iLuddite]

A scary thought just occurred to me…the foldable’s display lottery 😩 Gonna be apocalyptic

 

[SumYoungGai]

Dang now my G9P 17 Pro Max (256 GB, Silver) is starting to look awfully greenish...

Unfortunate since my G9N 16 Pro Max (256 GB, White Titanium) was basically perfect to my eyes.

I think I’ll give it a few days and see if I can adjust, but compared to the lovely display on my 14” M4 MacBook Pro it really does look quite green.

Try turning True Tone off on your iPhone

 

[indezah]

A scary thought just occurred to me…the foldable’s display lottery 😩 Gonna be apocalyptic

iPhone Fold's crease-free folding screen to be made by Samsung Display

Its solution will ensure stable mass production of the device. Once again, a new rumor claims Apple's first foldable iPhone will use a crease-free folding...

www.gsmarena.com

Don't worry, LG can't make a consistent OLEDs. Samsung OLEDs from 4-5 years ago outperform these new LG panels. What makes you think they'll have the expertise for folds?

 

[Nik73]

I played the panel warranty with the air and I did not win. My fiance, myself, and my second device all have GVC screens. And while I didn’t get a Samsung panel, I will say I am absolutely shocked at the variance between all these GVCs.

One of them has significantly better viewing angles, with the green tint being barely noticeable. The other two had tolerable green tints but it was definitely not as good as the latest. Which is interesting is the India-made one feels better made and has the better screen…interesting…

Yes I have OCD, and yes these variances bothers me. lo
Edit: Photos aren’t doing justice, there is actually a massive visible difference between all these but they all kind of appear bad in the photos.

The middle photo is a good representation of what my 17PM looks like at normal viewing angles.
I think it’s a shame that this has gone the way it has, with the usual opposite extremes going back and forth. My two cents is that I think no screen is perfect, some are obviously worse than others. I honestly think it’s a personal thing and some people notice it more. Saying that, it doesn’t mean those that do are obsessively looking for it! Some people’s vision just see these kind of things.

Someone mentioned a similar issue with LG OLED TVs. Back in 2017, I bought my first OLED TV, an LG C something. One of the curved screen ones. As soon as I turned it on, I noticed the right 25% of the screen had a pink tint. I tried three replacements and all had the pink tint on either side. A friend had the same TV and sure enough his had it. On both sides!! The thing is, he couldn’t see it. I didn’t want to draw his attention to it, so didn’t say exactly what it was, but he just couldn’t see the tint.
I went and viewed literally dozens of OLED TVs and I could see it the pink tint on every single one, no matter who made it. Friends with me, and even staff, saw it differently. I really think it’s a personal thing. I wish I was one that didn’t see it.
I eventually ended up getting the top of the range Sony at the time (A1E) and even that had the pink tint! When I looked at new TVs last year, I think it’s pretty much accepted that it’s an issue with OLED panels. Again, I saw pink tint on every single TV I looked at. The pricier QD panels don’t have the issue, so went with another Sony (A95L) and the uniformity is excellent. Not a hint of pink.

Please bear with the people that do see it.

 

[indezah]

The middle photo is a good representation of what my 17PM looks like at normal viewing angles.
I think it’s a shame that this has gone the way it has, with the usual opposite extremes going back and forth. My two cents is that I think no screen is perfect, some are obviously worse than others. I honestly think it’s a personal thing and some people notice it more. Saying that, it doesn’t mean those that do are obsessively looking for it! Some people’s vision just see these kind of things.

Someone mentioned a similar issue with LG OLED TVs. Back in 2017, I bought my first OLED TV, an LG C something. One of the curved screen ones. As soon as I turned it on, I noticed the right 25% of the screen had a pink tint. I tried three replacements and all had the pink tint on either side. A friend had the same TV and sure enough his had it. On both sides!! The thing is, he couldn’t see it. I didn’t want to draw his attention to it, so didn’t say exactly what it was, but he just couldn’t see the tint.
I went and viewed literally dozens of OLED TVs and I could see it the pink tint on every single one, no matter who made it. Friends with me, and even staff, saw it differently. I really think it’s a personal thing. I wish I was one that didn’t see it.
I eventually ended up getting the top of the range Sony at the time (A1E) and even that had the pink tint! When I looked at new TVs last year, I think it’s pretty much accepted that it’s an issue with OLED panels. Again, I saw pink tint on every single TV I looked at. The pricier QD panels don’t have the issue, so went with another Sony (A95L) and the uniformity is excellent. Not a hint of pink.

Please bear with the people that do see it.

Fun fact: Samsung makes the display panel for the Sony A95L while LG made the panels for mid-tier models. Make of it what you will

 

[neXgo]

Got today my Base 256GB in Thailand with G9Q Panel. No tinting and looks good. The only thing is next to my old 14P with G9N Panel it looks definitely warmer. I would also not say that it's noticeable brighter, but maybe this this seems to be like that because of the warmer color.

Anyone else similar experience?

 

[Tea-Aholic]

Samsung makes the display panel for the Sony A95L while LG made the panels for mid-tier models.

The A95L uses a Samsung panel because it’s QD-OLED rather than WOLED from LG.

I am not aware there are technical differences with the iPhone displays.

 

[kulan]

This is a very good example of the LG green shift that goofballs all over this thread want to act like doesn’t exist. Guys you don’t need to rag on people trying to get the better screen because you don’t care about the difference.

Some people don’t mind the green shift and go about their day just fine with an inferior screen and guess what? That’s the majority of customers. Let the 2 percent whine and share opinions on the matter without gaslighting on what they do and don’t see.

No one is claiming it doesn't exist. I'd say you're the goofball calling all LG screens "inferior" because it does something the majority of OLED panels do, shift color off-axis.

 

[Pipper99]

My first 17pm has the GH3 screen, and I noticed right away that it looked less vibrant and bright than my 16PM. the green color shift was unpleasant, too.

Yesterday, I got another 17pm (both are orange), and it immediately looked much brighter, whiter, and more vibrant than the first 17pm with the GH3 screen. Off axis color shift is less bothersome, too.

I wondered if I’d have the same GH3 screen and find that it was all just subjective imagination, but I checked the manufacture this morning, and it’s a G9N. I’m glad I swapped (I’m returning the GH3 today).

 

[Lexicon44]

No one is claiming it doesn't exist. I'd say you're the goofball calling all LG screens "inferior" because it does something the majority of OLED panels do, shift color off-axis.

They all shift off-axis. But some (predominantly Samsung) do so in a way that's barely perceptible, and others (predominantly LG, based on what people are reporting) do so in a way that's neon green...

So based on what people are observing, in that specific respect, LG screens are inferior to Samsung.

 

[scrapdoo22]

No one is claiming it doesn't exist. I'd say you're the goofball calling all LG screens "inferior" because it does something the majority of OLED panels do, shift color off-axis.

I don’t think anyone really has a brand loyalty to LG or Samsung. Honestly I have an LG C2 OLED TV I love. It’s just an observable difference between the 2 brands for iPhone screens. I have no skin in the game here along with others so there is no benefit for me to say LG is inferior to Samsung screens on iPhones and really only downside of wasting time arguing the point, so I feel like I come from a trustworthy stance. Along with my previous post. 95% of people will be happy with anything you put in there hands, but the other OCD goofballs like me shouldn’t feel vilified or gaslighted for wanting the slightly better screen from a multi-trillion dollar corporation.

 

[Fred Zed]

This is my first post, although I’ve been a long-time reader of MacRumors. I felt the need to address some of the claims being made here.

It’s simply not true that the GH3 is “the worst.” These codes only indicate production lines or assembly locations from LG. The idea that GH3 panels are inferior originated from a 2021 article that has since been debunked. Apple enforces strict quality requirements, and no display that fails to meet those standards would ever ship.

In practice, many GVC and GH3 panels look virtually identical, and even panels from the same production line can show subtle variations.

Are there differences between Samsung and LG panels? Yes, each manufacturer has its own production methods. But ultimately, every panel is calibrated to Apple’s standards, so all of them meet the same baseline of quality. Apple also protects new screens against burn-in more aggressively in the first weeks, and this behavior can vary slightly depending on the manufacturer, which may explain why panels can feel different at first.

OLED panels are most vulnerable to uneven wear in their first hundreds of hours of use. That’s why Apple applies stronger burn-in protection at the beginning, limiting peak brightness a bit more aggressively and shifting pixels more often.

Once the organic layers stabilize, the risk of permanent image retention drops and the panel can run closer to its full potential. This behavior can also vary slightly depending on the manufacturer, since Samsung and LG use different materials and production methods.

If you’ve been used to Samsung panels for years, an LG screen may feel different at first. That doesn’t make it worse, it’s mostly about adjustment and personal preference. Calling GH3 ‘the worst’ doesn’t just spread misinformation, it unnecessarily discourages owners, when in fact they have a fantastic display that fully meets Apple’s high standards.

Let’s put an end to the “GH3 is the worst” myth once and for all.

Enjoy your iPhone.

I’ve been used to Samsung panels for years. And the LG panel is a breath of fresh air as far as I’m concerned.

 

[KarimLeVallois]

G9Q panel on latest Air and miles better!

 

[thatJohann]

Passed by Apple store to buy a case and checked out the phones. All the Pro Maxes look like crap with LG screens and tons of green tint color shift. Wild how so many people buy them and don’t realize. Looks like the Pro Maxes are particularly awful this year.

 

[Winterpark]

Hi Guys,

So I just bought a 17PM 512 dark blue at Charlotte Apple Store. It has the GH3 screen and I might maybe kinda see a faint if at all color shift, so difficult to honestly tell. The first one they brought out and set up they took back on the spot because the max brightness was nowhere close to the display phones. They brought out another one which I have now (GH3) that was as bright white as the display phones.

I mean....do I return this GH3 in hopes I get the coveted G9N? I prefer the brightest whitest displays on phones. My 14PM was blinding white, but don't know what screen it had, I traded it in.

Thanks