Thank you for this post, it describes exactly the situation/struggle i am in right now.[no real content below, just sharing my experience]
4 more days .. before I request a return on my launch day 12 Pro Max.
Yellow/green from day one, frequently piss yellow/green.
On closer inspection it is looking simply ridiculous next to my new 2020 iMac, my most recent MacBook and iPad Pro, my daughters iPhone 11 Pro and even (or especially) next to my old XS Max which unfortunately I sold to a friend so I still see it occasionally.
And all this with TrueTone ON, yes, ON, as its a feature which I really enjoy on all other Apple devices. It makes whites look more natural for me, more like the whites of reflective white objects, which is what TrueTone is all about. But my 12 goes beyond making things look natural, again at least for me.
So I created an Apple Support ticket on day 5, had a visit to an Authorized Service provider on day 7. Yep, they agree, piss yellow, no debate. But they got instructions from Apple to not service my phone and tell me to wait for a iOS update. For me iOS 14.3 seems to have improved TrueTone going completely wild on some occasions, or maybe it’s my imagination.
Yet still multiple times a day I look at my phone and it looks simply ugly and bad, on its own, even more when close to another Apple device. Yellow, green, sometimes piss-yellow/green, washed out colors, weird whites, strange greens, strange grays. And the next moment, mostly outdoors or at least not in presence of much artificial light, it’s quite ok, or actually very good. What is this?
So yes, I can turn TrueTone OFF, but that looks even worse in artificial light, too cool, at least for me. And also it does not solve all yellow tinting. And I can play with color filters but somehow that never looks “right” for me in all conditions either.
And I like “yellow” displays. My TVs, even my trusted old Pioneer Plasma, they instantly go to calibrated mode, PURE mode, ISF mode. This gives them a “dull and yellow” looking appearance for some, for sure compared to their default modes. But I like the more natural appearance of these calibrated modes.
But the iPhone 12 Pro Max, no, sorry, something is wrong (for me).
I’m an Apple fanboy, got convinced ever since the original 9” Macintosh, a customer ever since. But I never had this happen to me before. I’m a bit surprised, confused, disappointed. Apple makes something that I really don’t like. That is a new feeling ….
And my wife sees it as well, she was about to get a 12 to replace her old phone, but no way she says, no yellow phone for her. My friends see it as well. My kids same thing, saying that daddy has this new yellow phone, they have a good looking one from last year.
So, return this one then. And then? Enter the lottery, so keep buying new ones, returning them until I have a good one (if they are out there) or util I make it to October 2021 where I hope the 13 series will be better? Hope for iOS14.4+ to fix it? Buy an old phone to get me though 2021? Use the very old SE still lying round? Switch to the dark side?
I know, it's just a phone (albeit a yellow one…), so just settle for it, get on with my life, there are so many more important things, especially these days. All true.
But no, not yet.
And if anything, I really would like to know what Apple’s view is on this. I mean, trolling aside, there is something going on here with 5.5K postings in this thread, in other threads elsewhere and others (like DXO) reporting on the yellow cast (even with TT off). Is this bad quality control during a crazy COVID year, or a hw/sw bug, both understandable btw? Or is it by design?
Knowing Apple I find it hard to believe its quality control or a hw/sw bug, so if it’s by design, then … well … then I have a problem.
And knowing Apple, I also realize I will never know their view on this, there is too much stakeholder value at risk by being open about it, whichever is their view (quality, bug, feature).
4 more days …
The saddest part is this one, i´m feeling the same:
I think apple is more and more developing into a company, that is all about shareholder-value and less about quality. Of course it was a difficult year because of Covid, but: Do you think Steve Jobs would ever have allowed that phones with such bad displays are being sold? If he knew, he would roll in his grave...But I never had this happen to me before. I’m a bit surprised, confused, disappointed. Apple makes something that I really don’t like. That is a new feeling …
