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Anybody else disappointed with iPhone 7's display?

P

Peter Abs

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 20, 2016
85
73
I upgraded to an iPhone 7 from an iPhone 6 Plus, I couldn't handle the large phone anymore and the 4.7" screen size is just right, I also prefer the look of it as opposed to the double camera bump on the 7 Plus, and I'd go as far as saying I'm delighted with the battery life on the 7. The elephant in the room however is the screen... it's so much more NOTICEABLEY worse that being honest, it's a disappointment every time I look at my phone! Watching Netflix occasionally or YouTube or even typing this right now I can really see the difference. Yes the colour gamut is wider and side by side colours are more vibrant on the 7 for sure (not that one could ever really criticise the 6 Plus for lack of colour - that would be crazy), but the 6 Plus is just SO much sharper that it more than makes up for it.... I really hate that! And it's mind boggling that they would differentiate between iPhone models with anything other than size.

Opinions vary of course but personally I think the iPhone 7 - particularly in matte black - is the best looking phone Apple has ever made, and being the latest offering, it has great tech specs too which is all good, but this screen is just such a disappointment it almost ruins it and it's purely due to the low pixel density... Which is such a shame because it's gorgeous in every other way! Colours, brightness, viewing angle all perfect but I shouldn't be able to see the pixels in 2016 on a flagship phone from a tech giant like Apple. It's all the more irritating seeing the rumours about next year's OLED displays being limited to the larger iPhone which would absolutely suck!

Some people get their kicks from having super powerful processors in their computers/phones etc, for me it's all about the screen, it's one of the major reasons I went for a retina MacBook, and the main reason I went for the 6 Plus in 2014. Anybody else this annoyed about it? What are your thoughts?

This is a total 1st world "problem" of course but if there's any place to discuss it, I imagine this is it!
 
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My opinion, I own the 6s Plus, 4.7 iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. The iPhone 7 display has increased contrast and the colors seem more vivid. I wouldn't say the iPhone 7 display is milestones ahead of the 6s, but it's noticeablely different. I prefer the iPhone 7 display and its the best screen screen to date in my opinion.

One thing to keep in mind, the Plus models have a 1080 P screen, which is obviously a better quality screen compared to the 750 P iPhone 7 screen.
 
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I guess it depends on the person but I really cant tell the difference between them. I had a plus and went down to a 4.7.
They both look sharp to me.
 
Peter Abs said:
The point - seeing as you missed it - is why should one have to deal with a lower PPI display in the 4.7" iPhone?
Click to expand...

Dah....you bought what you bought. And now you complain about your choice?

My Honda Civic doesn't have the acceleration of my Maserati . What's up with that, why should I deal with less acceleration just because I bought a Civic.
 
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The thing I'm most disappointed in with the display is that I have never seen one that is evenly lit. Or it has some sort of dark spot or yellowish tinge in it somewhere or a color temperature shift. Same problem the last 3 years. Maybe an oled would fix the uniformity issues? I don't know. Most people don't see it but on white backgrounds it's there! I've went though multiple iPhone 6's and seen the same report on the 6S and now my first (and only so far) 4.7 JB has uniformity issues as well. A sharper screen would be nice but and evenly lit and colored display would be best right now!
 
imagineadam said:
The thing I'm most disappointed in with the display is that I have never seen one that is evenly lit. Or it has some sort of dark spot or yellowish tinge in it somewhere or a color temperature shift. Same problem the last 3 years. Maybe an oled would fix the uniformity issues? I don't know. Most people don't see it but on white backgrounds it's there! I've went though multiple iPhone 6's and seen the same report on the 6S and now my first (and only so far) 4.7 JB has uniformity issues as well. A sharper screen would be nice but and evenly lit and colored display would be best right now!
Click to expand...
apple must go crazy with replacing phones for the ocd
 
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I'm right here with you. I went from a 6 Plus to a 6s and couldn't believe the difference. It looks terrible! 325 PPI on a 4.7" display is just not enough. 325 PPI on a 7.9" display is in my opionion. Which is what the Mini iPad gives you. 400 PPI on the 5.5" Plus is sufficient indeed.
 
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I get where you're coming from OP. If the 6s and 6s+ both had true HD panels I would have gotten the 6s. But I've been plus sized since the 6 mainly for the better screen.

Yeah, I miss true one handed usability occasionally, but it's the choice too have to make if you want the best screen. My advice would be to try to get used to the 5.5 inch phone, as I believe it will differentiate itself more and more in the next few years.

Why don't we have HD on the 4.7 inch screen? Who knows, but I haven't run across many sub-5" HD smartphone screens, so I'm going to trust that the trade offs just aren't worth doing it.
 
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I don't really see a difference between the 7 and 7 plus. Display quality would not be a reason why chose the 7 plus. It's not like the 7 has a crap display like the SE.
 
Peter Abs said:
The point - seeing as you missed it - is why should one have to deal with a lower PPI display in the 4.7" iPhone?
Click to expand...

Thats like asking why a a 21 inch iMac and a 13 inch MacBook dont have the same resolution displays as the 27 and 15 inch counterparts lol. Physical size and cost....
 
It's not so much the same resolution, but the given PPI for the display size we're talking about. 1080P is needed the most on the 4" SE iPhone. The smaller the display size, the closer you need to get to that display and that's why high PPI is so much more important. If anything, the displays should be reversed on the 7/7 Plus. 750P panel on the Plus would mean 278 PPI and 12 inches from the display to maintain a "retina" display. A 7 would be 468 PPI and retina at 7" away. It's all about effective density. You have to hold the 7 closer therefore you need a higher pixel dense display to make up for it.

220 PPI looks far better on a 15" MacBook Pro than 326 PPI on an iPhone 7. To me it's not so much the PPI number, but also my viewing distance with that device.
 
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HEK said:
Dah....you bought what you bought. And now you complain about your choice?

My Honda Civic doesn't have the acceleration of my Maserati . What's up with that, why should I deal with less acceleration just because I bought a Civic.
Click to expand...

I would love to test drive your Maserati!
 
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For those using color settings to adjust display were are your settings at ?
e364cdef5b9b4a0be9099d8c7e277ff8.png
 
Although this is a real first world problem, the fact still stands that the iPhone 7 is among the most expensive smartphones on the market. And it has a 750p display. I notice a difference between my 6S+ and my girlfriend's 6S too. It's a real shame that Apple chooses to cripple the smaller version. Could have to do with battery life, but that can always be solved.

Apple wants to make money like any other company :)
 
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It's not the most ideal display but it's surprisingly very good given the resolution and screen tech being used.
 
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