iPhone 16 Pro Bezels on iPhone 16 Pros NOT Uniform.

[ThailandToo]

Look at the entire photo, and it's easy to see the photo was taken at a slight angle. The bottom of OP's phone is closer to the lens than the top is, which makes the bottom of the phone appear larger in the image than the top, which means all parts of the phone (including the bezel) will appear slightly larger on the bottom of the photo than at the top.

To confirm this you can see the sides of the phone are not perfectly parallel with the sides of the photo. This is known as keystone distortion in photography, and it's why (as an extreme example) we see the tops of buildings as smaller than the ground floor when we take photos.

With keystone distortion there is no size difference between objects in the top and bottom of the frame, but the greater distance of the object at the top of the frame (in this case, the top of OP's phone) makes it appear slightly smaller. So we cannot know for sure that the top bezel is thinner than the bottom one, due to how the photo was taken.

Actually, I think you’re wrong. It looks closer on the photo than in person. I think it’s the opposite effect to what you say. It seems to me the whole display assembly is installed crookedly.

 

[ThailandToo]

In my industry you'd get laughed at for requiring more than half-millimeter precision. The fact that the top and side bezels are only 0.03mm different is astonishing.

It’s way more than that much off. That’s the point.

 

[ThailandToo]

Surely, iPhones are a mass-produced consumer product - millions are produced from Factories in China and India for mass consumption. They are not limited-edition hand-crafted design pieces where every aspect is carefully evaluated to ensure that the absolute integrity of design principles is upheld. There will inevitably be manufacturing tolerances and, to my eye, this falls within that category.

They are $1500! I expect the company to care about quality control. This is a QC issue. I have seen the 15 Pro Max and 16 Pro Max now. Neither looks like this.

 

[ThailandToo]

I’m sorry you noticed this tiny variation in tolerance.

These are the narrow bezels everyone wanted as they bitched and bitched. It’s easier to see a 30-40um variance at smaller sizes than when they were twice the width.

So return your phone or buck up. Odds are, this will be the norm and Apple will never reach your level of perfection.

As they say with Tesla panel gaps, it’s within tolerance.

Oh I am returning it for sure. Will bet that mine is worse than the ones in the store. There’s an unevenness that doesn’t show in photos obviously.

 

[ThailandToo]

In my industry you'd get laughed at for requiring more than half-millimeter precision. The fact that the top and side bezels are only 0.03mm different is astonishing.

Yeah. What industry are you in BTW? In construction 1/2” tolerance would be fine. In a $1500 iPhone Pro, it’s not fine.

 

[myhaksown]

Look at the entire photo, and it's easy to see the photo was taken at a slight angle. The bottom of OP's phone is closer to the lens than the top is, which makes the bottom of the phone appear larger in the image than the top, which means all parts of the phone (including the bezel) will appear slightly larger on the bottom of the photo than at the top.

To confirm this you can see the sides of the phone are not perfectly parallel with the sides of the photo. This is known as keystone distortion in photography, and it's why (as an extreme example) we see the tops of buildings as smaller than the ground floor when we take photos.

With keystone distortion there is no size difference between objects in the top and bottom of the frame, but the greater distance of the object at the top of the frame (in this case, the top of OP's phone) makes it appear slightly smaller. So we cannot know for sure that the top bezel is thinner than the bottom one, due to how the photo was taken.

I’m aware it’s at an angle but even so it’s noticeable that the paint on the glass is not centered. To each their own.

 

[spcdust]

They are $1500! I expect the company to care about quality control. This is a QC issue. I have seen the 15 Pro Max and 16 Pro Max now. Neither looks like this.

Well, good luck with it all - I think finding the perfect model will be challenging, maybe you'll get the bezel you are seeking but then what about the brightness of that one's screen etc? I would get a refund and move on.

Personally, I'm currently enjoying my Pro Max, I'm a relatively fussy customer but also have realistic expectations on manufacturing tolerances.

 

[adamlbiscuit]

This isn’t Apple now.

Apple aren’t perfect. Phones aren’t perfect.

‘Yes but if Steve were still alive then…’ - It was Steve himself who said that.

Apple will want you to be happy with your purchase I’m sure. It’s clearly not up to your standards so im happy you’re returning it. Still, prepare yourself, as it’s ultimately a lottery. It always has been, and always is with any mass-produced product.

 

[Gsxr750]

Wondering if anyone else has noticed this lack of design principles or if it’s manufacturing outside of tolerance? The display and the frame of my iPhone 16 Pro leaves differences in the size of the bezels. Particularly noticeable around the corners and the top and bottom bezels are different sizes than the sides. You can take a micrometer and verify that your eyes are not deceiving you.

At first I thought it was the angle that it appeared at. But the micrometer is proof that my eyes aren’t lying. I can take my Nothing Phone 1 and the bezels are exactly the same all the way around.

This lack of attention to detail really bothers me. It makes the iPhone 16 Pro feel like a cheap Android phone!

The sides are thinner than the top and bottom bezels. The corners start small and get bigger all the way around. I wonder if this is a display manufacturer not getting it right and Apple letting it pass QC? Or is it so poorly designed? Now, I only have mine to see and I live a three-hour drive to Apple (round trip); however to me this is not worth $1500 plus tax…

In addition, the camera control BUTTON is nonsense and not fun to use. Better to use the display - and this is coming from a photography enthusiast who uses Canon equipment.

Are you fine with the bezel discrepancies? Or does your iPhone not have them? Do you think this is Apple now that they are so focused on money that they let design principles and manufacturing QC decline?

Do you find the camera control BUTTON to be useful in any way or would you prefer using the display?

Curious.

Returning mine.

Dudes just searching for a reason to complain.

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Actually, I think you’re wrong. It looks closer on the photo than in person. I think it’s the opposite effect to what you say. It seems to me the whole display assembly is installed crookedly.

The only evidence we have is the photo you posted, which shows keystone distortion as I described. So it's impossible for anyone here to know what you say you are seeing based only on that image, as it was shot in such a way that the distortion is part of the image. The phone you photographed and the sensor in the phone you used to take the photos are not parallel, so we can't know for sure based on the photos you posted. The images you posted definitely don't appear to show the top/bottom and side bezels having a 40% difference in size, as you mentioned, so if that's true then we definitely can't say the images are accurate.

All that aside you are clearly disappointed with the phone and you should definitely return it, as you said you would. Starting a thread about this and posting so many times shows that you're not happy. Using scare quotes around "dynamic island" and all-caps for the word BUTTON in your posts makes me think this might just not be the phone for you. Best of luck, whatever you decide.

 

[ThailandToo]

This isn’t Apple now.

Apple aren’t perfect. Phones aren’t perfect.

‘Yes but if Steve were still alive then…’ - It was Steve himself who said that.

Apple will want you to be happy with your purchase I’m sure. It’s clearly not up to your standards so im happy you’re returning it. Still, prepare yourself, as it’s ultimately a lottery. It always has been, and always is with any mass-produced product.

It shouldn’t be. Interchangeable parts and factory tolerance standards should be followed.

 

[ThailandToo]

Well, good luck with it all - I think finding the perfect model will be challenging, maybe you'll get the bezel you are seeking but then what about the brightness of that one's screen etc? I would get a refund and move on.

Personally, I'm currently enjoying my Pro Max, I'm a relatively fussy customer but also have realistic expectations on manufacturing tolerances.

Yeah. I may try the pro max or just keep my 15 pro max. Not really caring about anything except the improved camera. Minor update not calling it an upgrade.

 

[Radeon962]

Use Dark Mode and a black Home Screen…. The only time I see the bezel is on a website or app that does not play nice with Dark Mode.

 

[adamlbiscuit]

It shouldn’t be. Interchangeable parts and factory tolerance standards should be followed.

You’re being unrealistic.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

It shouldn’t be. Interchangeable parts and factory tolerance standards should be followed.

How do you know that this isn't within Apple's acceptable manufacturing tolerances?

 

[Taco1933]

Yeah. What industry are you in BTW? In construction 1/2” tolerance would be fine. In a $1500 iPhone Pro, it’s not fine.

I always see people quote the price in these threads like it matters. $1500 isn't very expensive for this kind of thing. This is a mass produced device and we're talking about fractions of a millimeter. Only a handful of people on the planet will pull out a micrometer and expect perfection, and apple producing a phone specifically for those people would increase the cost of the phone for everybody. Not worth it.

Return it if you'd like, but apple didn't exactly kick your dog here.

 

[myhaksown]

It shouldn’t be. Interchangeable parts and factory tolerance standards should be followed.

I have to agree with adamlbiscut. I think you may be dug in a bit too much. That being said, you’re right that tolerances should be followed but these are mass produced devices. It’s impossible to guarantee perfection. It’s not all robots making them either so human error comes into play. There’s a lot of human interaction so flaws are bound to happen. Plus as I mentioned originally, they usually use mounts that the screen sits in to keep it uniform on a production line but if the mount gets dropped and is damaged, has a small burr on it, or something like a hair or piece of dirt gets between the screen and mount then it can cause the glass to not lay flat and will cause this sort of thing.

So yes, they should follow their tolerances and they do. But mistakes happen. No one’s perfect. Not even Apple.

 

[SmugMaverick]

Wondering if anyone else has noticed this lack of design principles or if it’s manufacturing outside of tolerance? The display and the frame of my iPhone 16 Pro leaves differences in the size of the bezels. Particularly noticeable around the corners and the top and bottom bezels are different sizes than the sides. You can take a micrometer and verify that your eyes are not deceiving you.

At first I thought it was the angle that it appeared at. But the micrometer is proof that my eyes aren’t lying. I can take my Nothing Phone 1 and the bezels are exactly the same all the way around.

This lack of attention to detail really bothers me. It makes the iPhone 16 Pro feel like a cheap Android phone!

The sides are thinner than the top and bottom bezels. The corners start small and get bigger all the way around. I wonder if this is a display manufacturer not getting it right and Apple letting it pass QC? Or is it so poorly designed? Now, I only have mine to see and I live a three-hour drive to Apple (round trip); however to me this is not worth $1500 plus tax…

In addition, the camera control BUTTON is nonsense and not fun to use. Better to use the display - and this is coming from a photography enthusiast who uses Canon equipment.

Are you fine with the bezel discrepancies? Or does your iPhone not have them? Do you think this is Apple now that they are so focused on money that they let design principles and manufacturing QC decline?

Do you find the camera control BUTTON to be useful in any way or would you prefer using the display?

Curious.

Returning mine.

I actually made a thread just like this and was insulted and had to report the sheep who jumped to apples defence.

Unfortunately, those with good eyes can see the bezels are not uniform and it’s not acceptable.

If it was Samsung or Google, they’d be mocked on here.

And yes the camera button sucks so bad.

Apple set a high standard but they’ve really let themselves go lately.

 

[azhava]

Great. Now we're going to have people going into Apple Stores with micrometers and magnifying glasses, going through 20 phones measuring bezels. Please don't ever let me be the next one in line behind them. 🤣

 

[Lynxpoint]

I will call this the unfortunate side-effect of pushing the bezels thinner (without eliminating them) - any imperfection is amplified due to the thinness. Nobody would ever notice this offset on the thick bezels of devices or screens from a few years ago (saying that as I look at my Thunderbold display with its massive bezels).

 

[Fred Zed]

Well, good luck with it all - I think finding the perfect model will be challenging, maybe you'll get the bezel you are seeking but then what about the brightness of that one's screen etc? I would get a refund and move on.

Personally, I'm currently enjoying my Pro Max, I'm a relatively fussy customer but also have realistic expectations on manufacturing tolerances.

Your First paragraph, Amen.

 

[ThailandToo]

Went to the Apple Store today. Everyone that saw my iPhone agreed it was wrong. We compared to in store models, and guess what. The in store models looked perfect compared to mine. Apple employees told me yes it’s not correct and it shouldn’t have been sold. I got the 16 Pro Max 1TB which is what I wanted. Bezels look perfect on it and all the others. Mine was obviously off. So it’s a problem the tech I spoke with most said he has seen but definitely mine appeared crooked with different size bezels all around the device. Glad I went to the store. Took photos of mine versus Apple Store devices showing theirs looked perfect. But people here will defend Tim’s AAPL like it’s their baby or religion. Definitely quality control issue.

 

[ThailandToo]

I will call this the unfortunate side-effect of pushing the bezels thinner (without eliminating them) - any imperfection is amplified due to the thinness. Nobody would ever notice this offset on the thick bezels of devices or screens from a few years ago (saying that as I look at my Thunderbold display with its massive bezels).

I did notice when I measured the iPad Pro M4 those bezels are way off. But it’s not noticeable as you say with the thickness of the bezels.

 

[ThailandToo]

I actually made a thread just like this and was insulted and had to report the sheep who jumped to apples defence.

Unfortunately, those with good eyes can see the bezels are not uniform and it’s not acceptable.

If it was Samsung or Google, they’d be mocked on here.

And yes the camera button sucks so bad.

Apple set a high standard but they’ve really let themselves go lately.

The insults are absurd. I was just questioning if this is my iPhone or all. It’s my iPhone. A quality control issue that everyone who saw the iPhone 16 Pro in person saw it and agreed it wasn’t correct and the in store units looked good.

 

[ThailandToo]

I always see people quote the price in these threads like it matters. $1500 isn't very expensive for this kind of thing. This is a mass produced device and we're talking about fractions of a millimeter. Only a handful of people on the planet will pull out a micrometer and expect perfection, and apple producing a phone specifically for those people would increase the cost of the phone for everybody. Not worth it.

Return it if you'd like, but apple didn't exactly kick your dog here.

Whatever. Read my follow up posts…