Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up
- Thread starter Kitkad
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
-
- Tags
- eye strain xs max
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
Even if they did there's a good chance TD would ruin the experience
LCD is no guarantee. I'll use my experience as an example.
For me: (OLED is not an option).
- iPhone 6 Plus - best computer screen i have ever used. But slow phone.
- iPhone 6S Plus - same as above but way faster. I use it today. Very nice.
- iphone 8 - ok, no trauma but certainly not as nice as the 6 plus models
- iphone 8 Plus - had to get rid of it. Gave me tachycardia eventually.
- iphone 11 - I could not use this iPhone at all
- iphone SE3 - FINE! on ios 18.7. Screen is no competitor to the 6 Plus series, but I can use it without physical trauma (I use iPhones as little as possible).
I tried going the refurbished route buying these SE3s, but struck out both times:they were duds. So I purchased new ones instead.
Yeah - its a sorry state of affairs, but at least I'll be set for the next decade. ha!
Last edited:
Since i have the 17 pro my eyes are watery all the time. Didn’t have that with the 16 pro. Now i don’t know what to do,sell this try another 17 pro? Or go back to 16 pro but what if i get a screen and my eyes are ****ed again? Goddamnit apple. Only hope is a software update for the pwm setting that has it on all brightness levelS and see if that helps. And im gona get new glasses next week the current one is scratched to hell but dont think its because of that otherwise the 16 pro wouldnt be good for me.
Well at least you know what to do the next time you find an iPhone that works for you (this advice is for everyone on this thread) === never, never sell a workable iPhone to pay for a newer untested model.
Yep. The worst is,i dont know if it will be fine with another 16 pro. Seems like you have to have goooood luck with the panels on these things. I remember 16 pro was a samsung panel,my 17 pro is a samsung one aswell. If it doesnt get any better after ive got my new glasses i might sell it and try a 16 pro. Bummer as i like the 17 pro alot.
Refurbished phones and computers have all sorts of issues including transistor leakage from plain old age and use. So yeah, buying sealed is typically the safer route. The problem is the usable devices are at this point 3-5 years old. And the bigger problem is at a certain point we will all be stuck upgrading to a newer OS. At least with Macs you can do a DFU restore to try to get to an older version of MacOS. iPhones there’s no such way once Apple stops signing older OS.
As others have pointed out LCD Apple phones and computers (and even iPads) are actually worse in 2025 on certain OS. The amount of dithering that Apple is using to render these OS’s is very high and it’s a major concern moving forward. The good news is at least the iPhone SE and iPhone 11 don’t utilize FRC (which wasn’t true of some older iPhones) at the hardware level so you just have to worry about GPU dithering.
The few LCD computers and iPads that exist are the Airs (MiniLED iPads and MBP’s might as well be OLED because of the PWM) and they all have the Gray Color Flicker which is a strobe that is omnipresent even in recovery mode, and clearly hardware based. On top of that they use dithering and FRC on the laptops. Even the iMac and Studio Display utilize FRC and the Gray Color Flicker. These two flickers have been present for at least a decade, but they are less intense on the Intel Macs.
Jury is still out whether a lot of this is quality control failures or purposeful design. I suspect it’s a bit of both.
As someone pointed out on Reddit, Apple is going against their Human Interface Guidelines for product and OS design. Liquid Glass is a visual Accessibility nightmare. How on Earth we went from devices and software that is supposed to get out of your way so you can be productive to these ridiculous and intrusive designs is beyond me. Oh wait, it’s because they want the Apple ecosystem to turn into an entertainment system instead of productivity pro devices. Okay.
It’s unfortunate because Windows is such a sh** show that there really isn’t an alternative that is significantly better.
Thing is the iPhone 11 screen I got on really well with. I switched to the 13 Pro and at first it was a nightmare to use but gradually I was able to adjust the display settings until it was usable. But that was very much trial and error but it ended up being the iPhone I’ve used the longest. So sometimes first impressions don’t always pan out.
Yes - to a point. While the SE3 was introduced in 2022, my new unit was manufactured in Jan 2025. Then the SE3 model was discontinued in Feb 2025.
iPhone manufactured date can not be looked up directly (the stat isn't published) but the battery manufactured date can easily be found using CoconutBattery.
According to those who know more about this than I, batteries that are going into new iPhones are typically manufactured 3-4 weeks before the phone is assembled.
Yes - running old versions of ios cuz you're trapped on it with an old iPhone kinda sucks - but I'm familiar with it. Its not like anyone needs the most updated version of ios to run the basics : calendar, notes, photos, reminders, phone, email & messaging.