Way back - I was given old iPad 2. 1080p LCD.
That low resolution screen gave me wicked eyestrain. I couldn't use it after a while.Had to get rid of it.
So low res screens can definitely mess up the eyes too.
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Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up
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That low resolution screen gave me wicked eyestrain. I couldn't use it after a while.Had to get rid of it.
So low res screens can definitely mess up the eyes too.
I have just decided to hold onto my SE3. The last time I tried a newer iPhone I experienced nausea and dizziness. My SE3 is on iOS 18 and I am holding it there. Not updating to iOS 26. I did read that some people prefer an earlier operating system. Earlier than iOS 18.
I did go to the Verizon store and looked at the Air iPhone. I personally loved the light blue one. It felt good in the hands. Hard to describe, but, the newer iPhones do not have rounded sides. They really bother me. And I do not use a case. But, the Air was comfortable to hold.
I am nearsighted and I think that helps me with using a smaller iPhone and I have small hands.
I guess I am lucky to be able to use the iPhone SE3.
They have an iPhone SE 2022. New at qvc.com
Only 64 GB. Red and midnight.
A little pricey.
But, new and hard to find now.
Very limited stock, by the way.
SE 2020 at hsn, also new.
I did go to the Verizon store and looked at the Air iPhone. I personally loved the light blue one. It felt good in the hands. Hard to describe, but, the newer iPhones do not have rounded sides. They really bother me. And I do not use a case. But, the Air was comfortable to hold.
I am nearsighted and I think that helps me with using a smaller iPhone and I have small hands.
I guess I am lucky to be able to use the iPhone SE3.
They have an iPhone SE 2022. New at qvc.com
Only 64 GB. Red and midnight.
A little pricey.
But, new and hard to find now.
Very limited stock, by the way.
SE 2020 at hsn, also new.
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He has been fine with the OLED iPhones for quite sometime now, so I don’t think he has a high sensitivity like most of us.
I have an iPhone 5 on iOS 9 that still works. I did a test with a Carson Microflip microscope and 240 fps slow motion and saw this on a gray image I had downloaded a decade ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Temporal_Noise/s/5SxASfR1yn
I don’t know if it’s dithering, FRC, pixel walk, or whatever. But it’s not fun to look at. Also have an iPhone 3GS but I need an old charger cable for it to see if it still works and is comfortable.
I used the older iPhones. I loved my 5C in yellow. I had a small white one before that. My personal favorite was the 8 plus. Loved that phone!
Then I started having problems when the OLED screens came along.
I had NO problems at all with the earlier iPhones.
The only phone I have had since the 8 plus is the SE 3. No problems with that. I can use it for long periods of time. No issues. The only problem is battery life.
I did try the newer iPhones, always had to return them.
I did really like the Air today in light blue. Just afraid the screen would bother me.
Then I started having problems when the OLED screens came along.
I had NO problems at all with the earlier iPhones.
The only phone I have had since the 8 plus is the SE 3. No problems with that. I can use it for long periods of time. No issues. The only problem is battery life.
I did try the newer iPhones, always had to return them.
I did really like the Air today in light blue. Just afraid the screen would bother me.
I think people here have been using PWM as a general term for the screen flickering, while for Apple it likely specifically means changing the width of the pulses (as is in the name).
There's presumably a group of us who is sensitive to any kind of screen flickering, and another group who may feel okay with certain kinds of PWM, in this case if they are fine with the 17s and the setting on, then they're likely okay with flicker, as long as the flicker doesn't change.
Doesn't help that people are okay with different models where there isn't supposed to be a change, likely due to panel lottery nonsense.
I've found myself being a bit less comfortable with new UIs, especially the all white background. It's always made it harder to read text when the screen was so bright around it.
There’s a lot of nuance here. When most talk about PWM they’re talking about the mechanism of backlight intensity regulation in comparison to DC dimming which is very stable and does not flicker.
General flicker sensitivity can include forms of dithering like spatial, temporal, spatiotemporal, and then frame rate control which Apple uses on all their 8-bit screens to emulate 10-bit. Only the Pro Display XDR is true 10-bit - everything else for laptops, desktops, monitors, and most iPads are 8-bit+FRC.
I am one of the more severely affected users here, yet I can use my 2021 iPhone 13 because it has a very stable modulation and a high frequency by comparison. I can only use it on iOS 15 because later versions utilize more dithering which is occurring at approximately 15Hz (4 dither frames per 60Hz refresh cycle). That 15Hz is horrific for anyone with a neurological sensitivity like myself.
So yeah, it’s complex. And it’s only worsened the past 5-7 years, hence this thread.
PMW and RWP are the same effect I believe, that's why u can't enable at the same time. Apple keeps playing with our group with misleading features and continuous arrogance.
I never buy into the lottery screen story. Apple is superior at quality control, that means if one screen doesn't work, the rest won't be much different.
Eventually it might be your little psychology overwrite your eyes stress with self-convincing dilution; and as time goes, if you hold on the new screen, your eye health deteriorates much faster.
I’ve been seeing a lot of reports on Reddit on how the 17 air works better than the pro series for modulation.
This is my favorite post in this thread.
I have done multiple rounds of bulk buying for enterprise and there are some major differences between screens of iPhones. At least from a color perspective. I can’t verify beyond that, but if color calibration can be that off between two OLED panels, I don’t see why other things can’t either.
Enterprise sourcing typically has very strict of specs, e.g. color calibration if would have a very limited range for qualification test, that means it could be at some lower range or higher range for each spec, but all in all, if the naked eyes can tell the difference among such a limited range for each spec, you must be a Super Alien can overpower those qualification testing machine at mini. millimeter level if you know what I mean, or you ever been to those testing labs...
I've now disabled the new PWM option, as it doesn't make any difference to me.
The display actually feels more comfortable without this feature, for whatever reason.
The text is smoother when reading without this feature. I've also disabled 120Hz, as I hardly
notice any difference compared to 60Hz. I'll continue testing the iPhone 17 Pro Max over the next few days,
as it's not causing any problems at the moment.
The display actually feels more comfortable without this feature, for whatever reason.
The text is smoother when reading without this feature. I've also disabled 120Hz, as I hardly
notice any difference compared to 60Hz. I'll continue testing the iPhone 17 Pro Max over the next few days,
as it's not causing any problems at the moment.
Well, if they're sourced from the same batches of devices we all get. I don't see how it makes a difference.
Funny others are noticing this. I thought the same as well in my limited time at the store (probably a couple of minutes with each phone). Don't know yet if it would be usable long term. Have to go back and try it for more time. Store was very busy yesterday.
Since the X I was fine with the 11 Pro, no adjustments needed. With the 13 Pro it was locking it to 60Hz that was key to stopping the issues. But who knows with the next iPhone.
Didn’t Apple used to get some screens from Samsung and some from LG? I am not sure who they get them from now but thought it might be Samsung.
By the way has iOS 26 affected anyone eye wise. I’m very wary of it for that reason and have left my iPhone on iOS 18.7.
Okay.
I have been using the 17PM since launch and have been surprised. It’s not perfect, but my eyes aren’t completely bumping out of my head.
I still notice a loss of focus at times causing me to roll or rub my eyes from time to time.
Have the PWM switch engaged, Reduce Motion and 60 FPS.
Actually, I did not enable reduce motion and 60 FPS until today. Don’t know if it was placebo, but those two setting seemed to instantly add additional relief.
It’s not perfect. But.. if the IPA has the same results, I might be able to settle with that as I’m not a huge gamer or sutterbug.
Either way, any of these IP17s will SMOKE the 11 performance wise.
I kept my 11 and it IS still easier on my eyes. It’s like I’m looking at paper in comparison. However, over the last years more than 10 minutes with the other displays would have had me out for the count.
Will keep testing and report back.
I have been using the 17PM since launch and have been surprised. It’s not perfect, but my eyes aren’t completely bumping out of my head.
I still notice a loss of focus at times causing me to roll or rub my eyes from time to time.
Have the PWM switch engaged, Reduce Motion and 60 FPS.
Actually, I did not enable reduce motion and 60 FPS until today. Don’t know if it was placebo, but those two setting seemed to instantly add additional relief.
It’s not perfect. But.. if the IPA has the same results, I might be able to settle with that as I’m not a huge gamer or sutterbug.
Either way, any of these IP17s will SMOKE the 11 performance wise.
I kept my 11 and it IS still easier on my eyes. It’s like I’m looking at paper in comparison. However, over the last years more than 10 minutes with the other displays would have had me out for the count.
Will keep testing and report back.
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Wow, me vice versa! I am very good with low res LCD displays (like that iPad) and seem to struggle with retina. I have similar display on my old iMac 2012 and so far it was the most comfortable device I’ve ever used in my life, visible pixel grid seems to help a lot with reading texts and finding UI elements even on non-skeuomorphic OS-es like Yosemite, Sierra, Mojave.
I have old iPad 1st gen that was beaten up by my stupid relatives when I was a kid, what a gorgeous device in terms of feel! I remember using it daily as a kid, was my first Internet-enabled device. And recently despite broken/cracked screen (display is ok) I tried to use it for some time, feels even better than newer retina iPads like Air 1 or 2, though haven’t had many problems with them either.
I believe with iPad 3 they have switched to retina, but I haven’t ever used that one. Though to me those were best devices in terms of look and feel, as well as 4 which I wanted but back then when I was a teen I had to choose - this or iPhone 5, went with iPhone and loved it, accidentally cracked screen in 2022 by dropping iPhone 11 Pro on its display when using them side-by-side🙁
Seems like iOS 26 affects all of us.
I don’t recommend to update.
I first thought these icons gonna be cool (because they looked fresh in screenshots and Apple’s misleading keynote), and the effects would feel fresh… HOW WRONG I WAS!
As soon as I tested it on LCD device that has no flicker I was nauseated by it. No, not in a figurative sense of this word, literally. And these icons… they seem to add some sort of blur on top of them, I even thought for a sec “so this is it? I am now fully blind and eyes cannot focus?”.
I don’t know what Apple should do to make it comfortable, but for me this is full stop in buying any Apple product until they sort it out. And I was thinking about doing lots of upgrades this year: iPhone, iPad, maybe even desktop Mac at some point. After their liquid-nasty something it is hard to make myself want anything that has it pre-installed.
Me, a long-term hater of Windows already eyeing a Windows laptop… Was also thinking about Samsung phone but… maybe next year! My current phone works and next would have PWM OLED too, so why waste money
I had no time yesterday, but now I can say for sure iPhone 17 is really bad for my eyes. Even deleting the device to prepare it for return caused sore eyes, nausea and vertigo. All OLED iPhones didn't work for me, but with Iphone 16 and 16 Plus it took a few minutes before the sympthoms started. But on the iPhone 17 I can't look without sympthoms at all, is for sure worse than iPhone 16 for me.
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I tried the iPhone XS, 12, 14p, 14PM, 15, 15P, 15PM, 16, 16PM and the 17. The 17 is the worst iPhone i ever tested. Now i will be testing the air based on the reviews on reddit.
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