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iPhone 11 How bad is the iPhone 11 screen quality?

nia820

nia820

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jun 27, 2011
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I usually upgrade my iPhone every year. However I wasnt able to upgrade my iPhone last year due to having more important financial responsibilities. I was happy with my XS max. Unfortunately a month ago it fell onto my marble floors and cracked. I live in a country that charges a ridiculous amount of money for replacement devices. So I purchased an oppo Android to hold me over until I received my bonus from work.

i was thinking about getting an iPhone pro but I can’t really justify paying the price at the moment. Not interested in a xs as it’s about to be a 2 year old phone. The iPhone 11 is in my affordable price range.

But my concern is the screen will bother me as it is a lcd screen. I’ve been use to oled screen for the last 2 years and even the oppo phone I’m using has a excellent screen.

So how bad or good is the iPhone 11 screen? Does it still have decent quality Despite it not being oled.
 
nia820 said:
So how bad or good is the iPhone 11 screen? Does it still have decent quality Despite it not being oled.
Click to expand...
It's subjective. A lot of people can't tell much of a difference.

Others say it's like night and day. They say once you go OLED you can't go back. They act like their eyes can't take the LCD. I wonder what they did before OLED? Must not have had a phone.

In the end, it only matters if you can tell any appreciable difference and if it matters to you.

I had the X when it came out and have had nothing but LCD iPhones since. Not important to me.
 
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A quick search usually does the trick.

forums.macrumors.com

The iPhone 11 has really a great display

I have always used the flagship models and never thought of buying a smaller iPhone for me, but my company gave me an iPhone 11 to use. I have been using it along my personal iPhone 11 Pro Max for the last three weeks, and my first impression really hasn't changed. I find the LCD display of the...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
forums.macrumors.com

Iphone 11 resolution ? is there any blurry text ?

Hi there .. I am going to buy an Iphone 11 but i wanna ask about the screen I usually read texts on my phone so will I face any issues with the resolution ? should i excpect a blurry text ?
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forums.macrumors.com

Is the iPhone 11 screen too low resolution in comparison to iPhone 8 plus?

I’m interested in the iPhone 11 but I’m not sure if the screen quality is a downgrade from my iPhone 8 plus. The resolution ppi seems to be lower. How much of a difference will it make?
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forums.macrumors.com

Why is the 11 screen so bland compared to the others?

Interesting, this just came up: https://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-x-vs-iphone-11-which-phone-is-best-for-you/#ftag=CAD590a51e
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We have both the 11 Pro Max and iPhone 11 in our household. I can see a very slight difference but not to a point that it will affect you using the phone. The 11 has a really decent screen and is very legible.
 
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I don’t know if this will help, but this is the 11 pro screen next to the SE screen. Honestly, with the exception of how much warmer the pro screen was when there was a white background, I didn’t see much difference. I even zoomed in a bunch to see if the LCD text got blurry, and it really didn’t.

I had the 11 and thought it was great - just wanted to go smaller.
 

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Moved from a XS Max to 11. There wasn't even a transition period. If you already know it's LCD you just kind of know what to expect. It's just like going back to something familiar since iPhones had LCD before and I thought they were great to begin with. While OLED was nice it's not a must have for me. But this is a very subjective thing and really varies from person to person. The best way is to just look at someone else's 11 and see if you can deal with it.

Edit: BTW How "bad" is the screen? lol It was never bad to begin with. That's a tech forum for you.
 
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It's no-where near as bad as people suggest that it is. I'm an absolute tech-nerd and when I made the jump from the iPhone 7 Plus, I tried everything I could to get the iPhone 11 Pro but just couldn't afford it. I 'settled' for the iPhone 11 and my wife has the Pro. She prefers my phone to hers, no idea why.
 
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nia820 said:
I usually upgrade my iPhone every year. However I wasnt able to upgrade my iPhone last year due to having more important financial responsibilities. I was happy with my XS max. Unfortunately a month ago it fell onto my marble floors and cracked. I live in a country that charges a ridiculous amount of money for replacement devices. So I purchased an oppo Android to hold me over until I received my bonus from work.

i was thinking about getting an iPhone pro but I can’t really justify paying the price at the moment. Not interested in a xs as it’s about to be a 2 year old phone. The iPhone 11 is in my affordable price range.

But my concern is the screen will bother me as it is a lcd screen. I’ve been use to oled screen for the last 2 years and even the oppo phone I’m using has a excellent screen.

So how bad or good is the iPhone 11 screen? Does it still have decent quality Despite it not being oled.
Click to expand...
I stood in the Apple Store (if you have one handy) and compared my XS (never loved the Max size) and the 11 and while I could see VERY slight differences - if you are really into studying your photos you could see the differences in contrast and the blacks - but for 99% of the stuff I do on my iPhone nothing even close to significant.
What I will say is that I had the X and XS for a year each and never managed to scratch the screens. (I hate screen protectors.) But I managed to scratch my 11 within the first month or so of using it. Nothing dramatic - you barely notice it when the screen is on and have to hold it at the right angle to see it when off - but still surprised after my experiences with the two earlier iPhones.
 
There's a definite difference and if you adored the OLED screen, it would not be wise to go to an 11 unless you can't help it.

If I were to rate Apple's OLED a 10, Apple's LCD is like an 8. Still very good but without the inky blacks, contrast, sharpness and color of the OLED it's not as great.

I wouldn't mind honestly though, I loved my 8 Plus's LCD. Super sharp.
 
I went from the Xs which has an OLED to the basic 11 which does not, difference? Noticed nothing, honestly, felt the same. Works for me.
 
nia820 said:
I usually upgrade my iPhone every year. However I wasnt able to upgrade my iPhone last year due to having more important financial responsibilities. I was happy with my XS max. Unfortunately a month ago it fell onto my marble floors and cracked. I live in a country that charges a ridiculous amount of money for replacement devices. So I purchased an oppo Android to hold me over until I received my bonus from work.

i was thinking about getting an iPhone pro but I can’t really justify paying the price at the moment. Not interested in a xs as it’s about to be a 2 year old phone. The iPhone 11 is in my affordable price range.

But my concern is the screen will bother me as it is a lcd screen. I’ve been use to oled screen for the last 2 years and even the oppo phone I’m using has a excellent screen.

So how bad or good is the iPhone 11 screen? Does it still have decent quality Despite it not being oled.
Click to expand...
I was given a FREE iPhone 11 by Sprint FREE at launch, and I decided to send it back rather than accept it the screen was so bad and the reception was so horrible.
 
Honestly, I still prefer the LCD on my 7 Plus over my OLED 11 Pro Max.

I had to do a lot of playing with color filters in order to get the screen to look anything but dingy yellow.

My first Pro Max was so bad they swapped it out. It looked faded, all the colors did. Playing with the demo units I noticed they were all blueish, where both of mine were yellow.

I just settled with my second one. Screen lottery isn't a cycle I want to get stuck in. If it wasn't for the huge battery I wanted, I'd have the 11.
 
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Wreckus said:
Moved from the X to the iPhone 11 and there is only 1 difference I can tell, which is the brightness while in looking at it outside. This makes sense as I believe the OLED displays have better contract/brightness ratio.

Other than that, really impressed w/ the iPhone 11 display.
Click to expand...
I made the same move. The display on the 11 is an excellent LCD display. The OLED Pro displays can reach a higher peak brightness, but I find the 11 perfectly readable outdoors. I’ve also been really impressed with the display on the 11, as well as the performance, which is the same as the Pro series.
 
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I don’t think the screen quality is that bad. We have X, 11 and 11 Pro, XR, at home and I feel the 11 Pro Max has a better screen quality compared to others. The white balance on the background is quite good. I don’t really think all the OLED screen-based smartphones have made such a huge difference, for me to think that iPhone 11 screen quality is poor. It is just subjective I feel and from my point of view, I don’t think there is anything wrong with the overall screen quality of all these models, especially the 11 in question. For the record, we also have the latest Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra at home. It is a pleasure being a part of any discussion involving iPhones. Thanks for bringing this up!
 
I switched from an iPhone X to an iPhone 11 when the iPhone 11 came out. I was very anxious about the screen downgrade but with Apple continuing to jack up the price of the premium phone I just couldn't afford to keep that up anymore.

The only time I notice any difference is when there is a lot of black on my screen - the screen does a terrible job of blending in with the border compared to my old X because of the LCD technology. Other than that I don't see a difference, and I welcome the lack of anxiety that comes with not having to worry so much about screen burn-in. Plus it means I was able to get my phone in purple! 😃
 
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