iPhone 12 Pro Yellow Screen/Tint? Display seem "Warm"? Check here first!

[Fred Zed]

Replacement received. It’s acceptable.
Green tint is much lower than previous Pro Max. Whites on new one look more pinkish to my eyes. All tests conducted with truetone off.
I was willing to accept anything with less green tint. So generally happy, although on whites the green tint one seems sharper but it could just be my eyes playing games with me. I just reset and packed up other device. I can’t be comparing too much else I’ll go even more looney

 

[madrigal77]

Could you please share your settings?

It's back on page 202.

 

[Sam in SoCal]

Definitely return it, that’s what I’ve done with mine and bought 11 instead.
You can try getting another 12 but all iphone 12’s are affected, there’s also a green glow issue and flickering issue.
Some people are having their 5th-7th iPhones 12 and they are still bad screens with yellow tint so you might as well skip 12 like I did.

I think all the complainers should buy the 11 and put this thread to rest. These are all Samsung panels so if it’s a hardware issue you can blame Samsung not Apple. Lol.

 

[Sam in SoCal]

Here’s my latest 12 pro max. Just got it from ups a couple days ago how does it look? It’s a week 52 phone

 

[avarosa366]

I just got a new iphone 12 mini today and it's much better. I had two iPhone 12 minis (one launch day) and another three weeks after and they both had a terrible yellow tint. As a result, both were returned. The one I got today is slightly tinted but its acceptable compared to my old ones which were very yellow. It really is just a screen lottery.

 

[Fred Zed]

Here’s my latest 12 pro max. Just got it from ups a couple days ago how does it look? It’s a week 52 phone

It’s really difficult to show it on photos. I tried to take some pics of my delivered today iPhone against the current one and nothing showed up . Only time I could get images across via photos was for the green tint issue.
Personally I don’t believe manufacturing date has anything to do with this. It’s random and they all meet apples tolerance levels unfortunately. That’s my take.

 

[Jutah]

It's back on page 202.

see it, thanks, TT off or on?

 

[madrigal77]

see it, thanks, TT off or on?

TT off.

 

[powerocool]

looks good!

 

[Sam in SoCal]

It’s really difficult to show it on photos. I tried to take some pics of my delivered today iPhone against the current one and nothing showed up . Only time I could get images across via photos was for the green tint issue.
Personally I don’t believe manufacturing date has anything to do with this. It’s random and they all meet apples tolerance levels unfortunately. That’s my take.

I’m pretty satisfied with this copy. I took advantage of the extended holiday return through January 8. I don’t know if it’s a production thing too. i just wanted to make sure I got one of the latest batches Before I sat it out until the iPhone 13. Lol. this one was delivered January 13. Much less yellow if any. I’m good. iPhone 12 pro max pacific blue 256gb

 

[mbpgecko]

Well best of luck with whatever choice you make. Just don’t expect it to be perfect. Point in example, My first device was pink in the lower inch of the screen. The second, had frame damage out of the box, third one ( current ) has all the issues mentioned on this thread.
I’d be happy to accept a device with at least one issue , not three.

**** it, I decided to just return it and get a refund. I noticed it by myself as soon as I switched on the mini for the first time without any prior knowledge, and the yellowness literally made me do a double-take. Now I’ve read this thread and read the horror stories of 7+ exchanges, and know how plagued by this issue the 12’s are, I can’t be bothered with all the hassle. Plus I just know I’ll be hyper-analytical of any exchanged minis I would get.

I started the return process this evening, and made sure they took note of the reason I’m returning it, and have bought a pre-owned XS instead. I’ll wait for the 13 or, more realistically, the 14.

Such a shame, I was really hyped for the 12 mini 🙁

 

[outlawarth]

Here’s my latest 12 pro max. Just got it from ups a couple days ago how does it look? It’s a week 52 phone

Looks good.

 

[Fred Zed]

**** it, I decided to just return it and get a refund. I noticed it by myself as soon as I switched on the mini for the first time without any prior knowledge, and the yellowness literally made me do a double-take. Now I’ve read this thread and read the horror stories of 7+ exchanges, and know how plagued by this issue the 12’s are, I can’t be bothered with all the hassle. Plus I just know I’ll be hyper-analytical of any exchanged minis I would get.

I started the return process this evening, and made sure they took note of the reason I’m returning it, and have bought a pre-owned XS instead. I’ll wait for the 13 or, more realistically, the 14.

Such a shame, I was really hyped for the 12 mini 🙁

I don’t blame you brother.

 

[Fred Zed]

I’m pretty satisfied with this copy. I took advantage of the extended holiday return through January 8. I don’t know if it’s a production thing too. i just wanted to make sure I got one of the latest batches Before I sat it out until the iPhone 13. Lol. this one was delivered January 13. Much less yellow if any. I’m good. iPhone 12 pro max pacific blue 256gb

I hear your bother.

 

[CuteLittleMiku]

My new iPhone 12 mini arrived and I did a retest of everything.
My old iPhone 12 mini's production date is 2020/10/18, week 42. Screen is G9Q manufactured at 2020-09-30
The new iPhone 12 mini arrived today. Production date 2020/11/22. week 47. Screen is G9Q manufactured at 2020-10-28. I found that at maximum brightness, the new one is definitely better. However, at low brightness, it's still bad green cast, I can definitely the difference at some middle difference.
Apple always asked me to wait for software update, and I wondering, if the software make a difference? The new phone arrived with iOS 14.2, sounds like some perfect test to do. Also the iOS 14.4 Beta 2 arrived today, so, why not. I measured at 0,5,10,20,30,50,80 and 100 brightness set by Siri, with true tone on and true tone off. I waited until night to do the measurements.
I did 16 tests on the out of box iOS 14.2 first. Then I updated to the latest software to iOS 14.3 and did another 16 tests. I installed the beta profile and installed iOS 14.4 Public Beta 2, which released today. And did another 16 tests.
Another 16 tests on XS iOS 14.3, and another 16 on the old iPhone 12 mini iOS 14.3. So 80 measurements total.
THERE'S ZERO difference between all three iOS version. They certainly did not fix it at iOS 14.3, and iOS 14.4 beta 2. Maybe iOS 40.4 they will fix it as they said. THERE'S ZERO difference between all three iOS version. Zero. (I mean out side of margin of error by measuring equipment.)

I can see on the new 12 mini, how the excess green fades away with brightness increase. At 80% brightness, it's completely gone.

1. There's 0 improvements over iOS version. Example at 0% brightness, true tone, nightshift, auto brightness all off.

iOS 14.2 above

14.4 Public beta 2 above

Well within margin of error.

2. Green fades with brightness increase. (Examples shown on the new 12 mini on iOS 14.4 Beta 2)

5% brightness

10% Brightness

20%

50%

3. The new iPhone 12 mini is not only brighter than my old one, but also shows less green cast at high brightness
(Examples all from 14.3 on both phones)

old 12 mini, 0% brightness. (see 0% from the new one at the beginning)

old 12 mini, 80% brightness

new 12 mini, 80% brightness, still on 14.3

Old 12 mini, maximum brightness

new 12 mini, maximum brightness.

At maximum brightness, the new one I have is not only 25-30 nits brighter but also has much better whites. At low brightness they both are terrible with green cast. I personally use low brightness a lot.

It's already too and for true tone, I will start another reply.

 

[CuteLittleMiku]

"Too long for true tone"
True tone is constantly changing, so it's really hard to conclude anything. I have my monitor on (at 30 nits) about 30 cm (11 inches) above the phone screen. There's no light in the room besides that.
1. Color temperature with true tone on at my personal light condition.

On all my 12 minis at all iOS versions at all brightness levels. The color temperature is always around 4900K. Without true tone, the color temperature is around 6300k at 0%, to around 6400k at 30/50%, then 6500k at 80/100%. My old 12 mini is always about 30k warmer at all brightness levels...maybe it's because of the brightness difference) My XS with true tone on is around 5000k. Without true tone it's always around 6600k.

2. Colors. On the new 12 mini with true tone on, even though it's warm, it's actually white, across all brightness range. So maybe they listened and fixed their true tone? I don't how, it doesn't seems like a software fix. On this new mini, with true tone on at my lightning condition, no matter it's iOS 14.2 or 14.4 beta 2. minimum or maximum brightness, the white is always relatively correct (please count the color temperature) below are two examples

iOS 14.2 , new 12 mini, 0% brightness, true tone on

iOS 14.4 Beta 2, 100% brightness true tone on.

And with true tone on, there's relatively less green than with true tone off. My old mini just have way too much green though I guess. So that's just relatively.

Old 12 mini, true tone off, 0%

old 12 mini true tone on 0%

XS true tone off 0%

XS true tone on 0%

So to me, the lack of green (relatively, or the abundance of red & blue together) doesn't nearly bothers as much with the excess of the green. Just personal..

Some caveats.. Unlike all other brightness with the lack of green with true tone on (0 or 100%) on my XS

5% achieved the best color this time...5% without true tone is also the most accurate this time...last time I measured the XS, it's perfect at both minimal and maximum brightness. So take all my words except that green bar sticks out with a grain of salt.

Same as the XS at 5% brightness, my old 12 mini at 80% brightness with true tone on achieved it's peak

But at 100%, there's noticeable green sticks out again on the old 12 mini.(on the new 12 mini with true tone on it's always good.. hope there's not some software bug on my colorimeter..)Really needs someone professional to do all the tests.

3. Brightness. Even with auto brightness off, there should be no surprise that true tone lowered the maximum brightness in a dark room. On the other hand, I expect true tone to higher the brightness under bright sunlight outdoors.

I will show you the old 12 mini maximum brightness with and without true tone.

Old 12 mini without true tone maximum brightness 629 nits

Old 12 mini with true tone maximum brightness 556 nits

new 12 mini with true tone maximum brightness 583 nits (iOS 14.3)

With the brightness offsets provided by true tone, the new 12 mini is still 30 nits brighter.



Conclusion: Apple might improve their quality control. It's just a possibility. To us customers , screen lottery is a real thing for iPhones now. Which I don't really expect from Apple. At this tolerance level of quality control, you can expect a wideeeeeeeeeeeeee range of iPhone 12 mini displays. (The old 12 mini is the already the second I've owned, as a replacement unit under Apple Care because of the green display)

 

[myllian]

Thank you for doing these tests for us, they basically confirm what we're seeing.
However I don't understand the purpose of including tests with TT on. TT is not supposed to be perfectly balanced white, it's adaptive i.e. color temperature (not brightness!) changes all the time.

 

[maka344]

Looking at some of the S21 Ultra first impressions and man, those screens are beautifully white as white and very even!

 

[acorntoy]

Looking at some of the S21 Ultra first impressions and man, those screens are beautifully white as white and very even

You might as well be Donald Trump the way you use dog whistles.

 

[fb1909]

Looking at some of the S21 Ultra first impressions and man, those screens are beautifully white as white and very even!

Pictures showing just one device without any second phone to compare or a calibrated color card to set the pictures white balance don’t tell you anything. You can’t judge from that pictures alone if that screen is white or not.

 

[acorntoy]

Pictures showing just one device without any second phone to compare or a calibrated color card to set the pictures white balance don’t tell you anything. You can’t judge from that pictures alone if that screen is white or not.

He’s already got em started!

 

[Chris.J]

Looking at some of the S21 Ultra first impressions and man, those screens are beautifully white as white and very even!

Honestly, I was thinking the opposite. Apart from the second photo which clearly has a cooler white balance (evident from the grey-ish skin tone), the S21 screen looks warm to me.

Side-by-side comparison needed.

 

[Six0Four]

Looking at some of the S21 Ultra first impressions and man, those screens are beautifully white as white and very even!

My piss yellow iphone 12 looks bright white in photos too. That's why i dont get why people are posting pics of their iphones in here since the camera adjusts the white balance so it wont come out yellow in a photo. I've taken pictures of my iphone 12 with 3 different phones now and it hides the yellow color.

 

[Mattejevic]

I have been using my 12PM for a few weeks now and have avoided looking at this thread and I have to say I am very happy with the phone overall. Yes the screen is a bit more yellow than my X but it's also more even. My X also now seems too blue when I compare them. So much of this is about perception. Unless you have an obvious defect, my advice is stop worrying and enjoy it.

 

[denkfout]

I have been using my 12PM for a few weeks now and have avoided looking at this thread and I have to say I am very happy with the phone overall. Yes the screen is a bit more yellow than my X but it's also more even. My X also now seems too blue when I compare them. So much of this is about perception. Unless you have an obvious defect, my advice is stop worrying and enjoy it.

That’s great if the only display you ever look at is your phone. In my case I use the 12 mini next to my tv, computer display and laptop, so I am constantly reminded of the awful green tint when switching back and forth between devices. Never had this problem with any of my previous iPhones.