I did this today and was charged a $50 restocking fee. Non negotiable. I didn’t push the issue cause my head was killing me and I wanted to go home and set up my 8+ before work. The x max was the best phone I have ever used. I turned mine in at 2pm today and still have a headache nearly 16 hours later. I haven’t slept yet (3rd shift this week) so hopefully sleep will reset me. I woke up feeling good and then used my max heavily Saturday Sunday and today, all of which gave me pain and discomfort. Not worth even trying to get past it. I’m honestly worried about my wife using an X, even though she has no pain.
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
I hope everyone is reporting this to Apple if they have issues. It's really discouraging but happened to me with the X. Bought it then had to return it. Now waiting on the XR and hoping they at least continue to offer options to avoid this issue. I read that approx 10% of consumers are affected by this problem.
Surely they can't keep ignoring it.
Surely they can't keep ignoring it.
My problems (eyes hurt, frontal headache, dizziness...) start 5 to 10 seconds after i start looking at the screen. And, no, it's not FaceID cause i covered it.
Even if 1000 people complained today, that’s a drop in the bucket for them. One day they will fix it, but they have zero motivation to do it now. They’re worth untold amount of money. 1000 bad reviews could sink a small company. There are probably LOADS of people out there with these symptoms that don’t come on forums or anything. How many millions of dollars have been spent on doctor bills by X users who think all of a sudden they have a brain tumor or some kind of serious neurological disaease? I highly doubt an eye doctor would know what pwm is or even suspect a phone.
When I returned the phone to Tmobile the kid who helped me kind of scoffed when I said the phone was giving me a headache. I asked the manager if he could waive the $50 restocking fee, but he said no. I wasn’t in the mood to argue so I just finished my transaction.
Tmobile has a deal when you open a 3rd line you get one free for life. I also got a free 8+ to go with my own 8+. So $40 a month for 2 more lines, and $699 total for 2 product red 8+. Not a bad deal at all. Had I not felt like my head was going to pop I probably would have pushed the issue on the return, but I get it they can no longer sell the phone for $1099.
I really liked the max, and it’s a bitter sweet feeling to have another 8+.
[doublepost=1537874197][/doublepost]
Me too. The biggest thing I noticed immediately is it’s impossible to follow along with text as I would scroll down. Very weird. I noticed that before the pain started.
Same here, but I think the XR will be a decent replacement. Have you considered getting that instead?
I had the same issue with my X last year, it's unfortunately a trade-off of OLED screens. Unlike PWM, you can train your eyes to not follow the text while scrolling & it should stop bothering you. Not that it matters, since the PWM is still there anyway 🙁
Can confirm...I am sensitive the the iPhone X. Headaches, mild nausea, etc. I use my iPad all the time. No issues. As you said, the screen is IPS-LCD, not OLED. Rumors are that the upcoming iPads will not use OLED (I hope this is true since I’m planning to upgrade when new ones are released).
Also, I’ve been using an Apple Watch everyday since the day series 0 was released. Yes, it has an OLED screen, but it does not give my any issues. Could be as you said...smaller screen/less light. Could be a different OLED implementation. Could be just the fact that it’s not a device that is typically used for many minutes/hours at a time. Don’t know...but it doesn’t give me any problems like the X did.
Thanks for that. I was worried the upcoming iPads would use OLED. We'll see what happens there. As for the watch, I'll buy one and try it out. From the comments here, I most likely will be fine.
Today I decided to not use my phone all morning. It worked, no headaches. I started using it after 3 and I'm already noticing light headaches. I'm likely returning it tomorrow. Its a shame since I do love the XsM. I'm going to give the XR a try when its released.
Does Apple charge a restocking fee? I bought the sim-free version of the iPhone full price from Apple.com.
I have spent thousands of hours staring at android amoled screens and never had a single issue. Apple is doing something way different than Samsung, Oneplus and motorola.
If we're lucky, Apple will update the XR next year (or the year after) with a 401ppi screen. Then it'll be smooth sailing from then on out.
I would rather use a flip-phone than the pocket sized ad-surveillance-machine you call android phone
[doublepost=1537920114][/doublepost]
I am afraid XR will have flickering too, not to mention that it's difficult to get used to smaller screen sizes now we have been spoiled by the 7,8 Plus
A little update here. I went to sleep with a really bad headache. I still have a minor headache after sleeping. Looks like this will linger for a few days. I have used my 8+ for about 5 hours since I got it with zero pain. I miss the max badly, but it isn’t worth the pain for me. Good luck to anyone still waiting on their xs or max.
Same issue here, got my XS earlier today but within a few minutes of using it noticed really really bad eye strain then started to get a headache. I switched back to my 8+ and no issues since. Definitely not worth it to stick out to see if it’ll change or not.
I’ll probably try the Xr when it comes out in a month or so, I really hope something is done in the future about this, glad I’m not the only one though
I’ll probably try the Xr when it comes out in a month or so, I really hope something is done in the future about this, glad I’m not the only one though
Pixel 2 has Samsung displays which also do this. I love my Pixel 2 but don’t use it for anything which requires me to stare at the display for very long. No movies, no emails, no forum posts and web surfing. I can do all of those things on my Pixel 2 but my eyes water after about 20 minutes. Also there’s an issue where movies look like bad gifs due to “black crush”.
I’m calling for the abolishment of amoled and for new lcd technology lol
Some good news. Half way through the week and my symptoms are borderline non existent. It's a 0.5 to 1 on a 1-10 scale. Just a very faint dull pressure behind the eyes that comes and goes. It's manageable and bearable. But I'm still on the fence, I'd rather have ZERO issues. Using True Tone helps a lot.
And if the background is white its overs for me.......This forum(white background) last yr with my X within minutes I had to put down the phone.
Don't you just get use to it? It seems no different then if you've never worn prescription glasses. When you put it on, it's not super clear and will definitely give you a headache. Your eyes get use to it and after a few days, they are normal glasses.
Explain how your eyes are sensitive to Macbook Pro's PWM. Well I heard of someone who had 3Khz PWM on his 2015 13" Macbook Pro (tested with oscilloscope) but that must have been an outlier.
I couldn't use the X last year as it gave me terrible eye pain at the backs of my eyes which gave me a headache. Surprisingly the Max didn't do this but I could still see the colour shift/shimmer present on the X. I returned mine as display had a terrible yellow shift when looking straight on.
[doublepost=1537951770][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1537951770][/doublepost]
Played out "joke"