Same here- turning off TT on my Mini really makes it look quite blue. I have never had True Tone off on any phone I have owned, so doing this was surprising- I do not like such a cool look to the display. I guess I got lucky on the "screen lottery" in regards to not getting the overly yellow tint?
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iPhone 12 iPhone 12 Mini - Yellow tint confirmed (picture attached)
- Thread starter jashsayani
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For those of you wondering the new 14.2 does not change anything. If you are on the older build of 14.2 you can update via iTunes/Finder by connecting your iPhone to your computer. I went through the trouble and it does not fix the yellow tint issue.
I was told by support that the engineers say this yellow tint is "proper performance". The best they can do is have me go into an Apple store for physical inspection.
Edit: There are the best calibration settings I can find. The trick is to add a little bit of Night Shift into the mix. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t.2262691/page-86?post=29277002#post-29277002
Edit: There are the best calibration settings I can find. The trick is to add a little bit of Night Shift into the mix. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t.2262691/page-86?post=29277002#post-29277002
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Same usage, iPhone 11 98% battery health, around 10-15% less battery at the end of the day with my Mini.
I don't think Apple has a solution yet. As per messages received by Apple Authorized Retailers, customers are asked to keep iOS updated and service centers are asked not to perform physical repairs for now.
I don’t think so either, I will probably replace this one by Apple. Have been to a local reseller to compare, there was a difference but very slightly, not very noticable though.
Compared to a 250 dollar crappy Samsung phone from work, you definitely see a very noticable yellow/orange tint in the 12 Minis display (truetone, colors and nightshift off). Not worth what we paid for it in my opinion.
EDIT: Update 26-11-20: Got a replacement. This one has the same issue :/. Using accessibility>display>colorfilters until Apple fixes it with a possible software update, seeing the high probability every phone has the same issue, and it not being device specific.
Please if you encounter the same issue with your iPhone 12 Mini, send feedback to Apple using the official feedback form here.
The lockscreen buttons not working was also fixed by them using this form.
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I saw other phones (mini) also had a tint at T-mobile store, so replacement unit wont help (till maybe March-April when they fix production issues). My plan now is to wait a few months and drive to Apple Store, check display units, and ask for screen replacement under warranty.
People - stop with the holier than though attitudes.
There are people out here with iPads, calibrated photo editing PC screens and older iPhones who see white across all those devices. And yellow on the 12.
Read the DXO mark review of the 12 Pro. It concludes “marked yellow tint across all functions”. Have their calibration devices also got i12 bias?
This is not imagination.
my picture is with identical settings, xs vs 12pro.
You can fiddle with the filters but then it’s off in different ways. Never touched a filter on my iPhone or iPad ever before and never been unhappy.
There are people out here with iPads, calibrated photo editing PC screens and older iPhones who see white across all those devices. And yellow on the 12.
Read the DXO mark review of the 12 Pro. It concludes “marked yellow tint across all functions”. Have their calibration devices also got i12 bias?
This is not imagination.
my picture is with identical settings, xs vs 12pro.
You can fiddle with the filters but then it’s off in different ways. Never touched a filter on my iPhone or iPad ever before and never been unhappy.
Attachments
So today got my second replacement 12Pro.
Something I hadn’t mentioned was as general dull feel to the screen.
On my 3rd phone, that dullness has gone. Simple as - the max brightness is greater and obviously nearer design as it looks better. However with True Tone on, it’s still very yellow
Close but no cigar.
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Yes, it really does with True Tone on.
I think there maybe two issues here. Low quality displays (low brightness) and perhaps a low quality batch of True Tone sensors. True Tone makes it much worse.
If I can find a light yellow filter I might put that over the sensor area and see if it compensates. Not a solution but just to test a theory.
On phone 3 I can live with it with True Tone off, but that is hardly a recommendation!! Or acceptable.
Apple aren’t arguing. Phone 4 is in the order pipe. Will update you all in the new year when it arrives.
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MacinMan
macrumors 68000
Hey guys,
I would like to add my experiences and some tests I've done with my iPhone 12 Pro Max to the conversation.
First off, I purchased my iPhone 12 Pro Max through best buy as an upgrade from my iPhone 7 Plus.
I first noticed the warmer tint after getting home, and realizing true tone was on. Turning off True tone put the display to a nice warm white color that would be considered off white. Still very nice to look at though, and none of the colors of the wallpaper, photos, video, etc were distorted.
After reading online about the complaints people had I was only curious because this was my first OLED Panel. I remembered when having my Plasma TV, it too was always warmer than an LCD, and since I'm used to calibrated displays, I figured this was just the nature of OLED panels, and the choice of calibration Apple has gone with for this model.
However, after hearing more and more complaints, I decided to do my own tests to see if it was hardware / software.
Here are the tests I performed on my 12 Pro Max.
1. I re-enabled True Tone, and hit the sensor with a bright white/blue LED flashlight. The display immediately went bright and turned cool white to match the light source that it was receiving.
2. I did the same test with a smart LED bulb set to cool white at 100% brightness, and same result.
3. Yesterday when I was out getting groceries, I pulled the phone out and let True Tone adjust to natural sunlsight, this was in the morning before the sun was fully up, so it had a warmer tone, and the screen brightened and turned a warmer tone to match the lightning. So the screen seems to be fine, and the sensor seems to be fine.
What I did find though, is indoor when it's darker, or you're in a warmer lit environment, that's where True Tone seems to exaggerate the warm tint on the screen. Of course, I don't use True tone as to keep a consistent display look. However, I used it for the lighting tests to see the response. As far as Nightshift goes, I use it at night with a lighter setting, but it's still a tad warmer then when off.
My conclusion is, the phone is working as Apple intended, if there are any problems, that REALLY need to be address,I'm sure apple will. For those who have known bad units I'm sure apple will take care of you. However from my own experience, and the majority of people who understand about calibration and cool vs warm color seem to suggest the phone is how it should be for the particular panel used.
Hope this helps 🙂
I would like to add my experiences and some tests I've done with my iPhone 12 Pro Max to the conversation.
First off, I purchased my iPhone 12 Pro Max through best buy as an upgrade from my iPhone 7 Plus.
I first noticed the warmer tint after getting home, and realizing true tone was on. Turning off True tone put the display to a nice warm white color that would be considered off white. Still very nice to look at though, and none of the colors of the wallpaper, photos, video, etc were distorted.
After reading online about the complaints people had I was only curious because this was my first OLED Panel. I remembered when having my Plasma TV, it too was always warmer than an LCD, and since I'm used to calibrated displays, I figured this was just the nature of OLED panels, and the choice of calibration Apple has gone with for this model.
However, after hearing more and more complaints, I decided to do my own tests to see if it was hardware / software.
Here are the tests I performed on my 12 Pro Max.
1. I re-enabled True Tone, and hit the sensor with a bright white/blue LED flashlight. The display immediately went bright and turned cool white to match the light source that it was receiving.
2. I did the same test with a smart LED bulb set to cool white at 100% brightness, and same result.
3. Yesterday when I was out getting groceries, I pulled the phone out and let True Tone adjust to natural sunlsight, this was in the morning before the sun was fully up, so it had a warmer tone, and the screen brightened and turned a warmer tone to match the lightning. So the screen seems to be fine, and the sensor seems to be fine.
What I did find though, is indoor when it's darker, or you're in a warmer lit environment, that's where True Tone seems to exaggerate the warm tint on the screen. Of course, I don't use True tone as to keep a consistent display look. However, I used it for the lighting tests to see the response. As far as Nightshift goes, I use it at night with a lighter setting, but it's still a tad warmer then when off.
My conclusion is, the phone is working as Apple intended, if there are any problems, that REALLY need to be address,I'm sure apple will. For those who have known bad units I'm sure apple will take care of you. However from my own experience, and the majority of people who understand about calibration and cool vs warm color seem to suggest the phone is how it should be for the particular panel used.
Hope this helps 🙂
RRDC
macrumors newbie
I can't believe that some people here are saying that the yellowish screen looks better and that people should accept it as the norm because, well, the mother Apple is always right.
I have an iPhone 12 mini and with its camera I took a shot of a ceramic plate which is pure shiny white. I viewed the resulting image on iPhone 12 mini (True Tone off) side by side with my 3-year old mid-range Xperia phone. The photo's "white" color as seen on the Xperia screen looks exactly alike as the whiteness of the actual ceramic plate. But the same photo viewed on the iPhone 12 mini screen (True Tone off) looks as yellow as the skin of a hepatitis-infected person.
THAT IS NOT NORMAL. That shouldn't be the new normal. The normal is that screen displays should be as realistic as possible and anything otherwise is substandard, low quality, not worthy of being a premium phone.
I came to this forum expecting to read objective opinions but this is shocking to see that some people here are proclaiming that yellow is the new normal and that the people who received the defective iPhone 12 should consider themselves lucky. Really? I mean, REALLY? I can't believe how zealot some people can be.
I have an iPhone 12 mini and with its camera I took a shot of a ceramic plate which is pure shiny white. I viewed the resulting image on iPhone 12 mini (True Tone off) side by side with my 3-year old mid-range Xperia phone. The photo's "white" color as seen on the Xperia screen looks exactly alike as the whiteness of the actual ceramic plate. But the same photo viewed on the iPhone 12 mini screen (True Tone off) looks as yellow as the skin of a hepatitis-infected person.
THAT IS NOT NORMAL. That shouldn't be the new normal. The normal is that screen displays should be as realistic as possible and anything otherwise is substandard, low quality, not worthy of being a premium phone.
I came to this forum expecting to read objective opinions but this is shocking to see that some people here are proclaiming that yellow is the new normal and that the people who received the defective iPhone 12 should consider themselves lucky. Really? I mean, REALLY? I can't believe how zealot some people can be.
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No kidding, start here. 220 pages.
Yellow Screen/Tint? Display seem "Warm"? Check here first!
Reports are already surfacing of a classic annual tradition in iPhone land - the dumping of yellow tinted reject screens on unsuspecting consumers. This happens literally every year, since the iPhone 3G. Every. Year. without fail. Same tint. Same excuses from Apple apologists. The fact is, not...
forums.macrumors.com
one more
macrumors 603
Have you tried turning off True Tone in your Display settings? In my case it instantly turns the mini’s screen cooler blue & brighter.
spartan1967
macrumors 6502a
All of the 12s have this tint defect. See post above yours.
one more
macrumors 603
If the whole 12 line has more yellow tint than the previous OLED generations (X, XS and 11 Pro), cannot Apple just adjust the colour profile in their next iOS 14 update? It does not bother me so much personally, as I find the yellow hue warmer and easier on the eyes.
spartan1967
macrumors 6502a
420ravens
macrumors newbie
Hi all,
I setup an account just to post here, long time Apple user (20years). It's 2nd Nov 2021. I've got the same issue with the 13 mini. I've come from an iphone 6s (because- you know, I'm up to date like that [and it's got a headphone jack]). Got the 13 mini, took 2 hours to set it up. Finally set up then I just looked at it and thought- wait a minute that screen looks like sh*t. Messed about, couldn't fix it. Spoke to Apple, messed about some more. Switching off auto-brightness made a massive difference (before that screen was dark af). Did all the usual stuff (true tone etc etc etc)- and yeah, the cast/white balance is yellow and the contrast is poor (even after turning up the foreground/background colour contrast thingy). Apple said reinstall everything. Did that. Didn't fix it.
Thing is, once I've seen one screen against another, I can't unsee it and what I saw I saw without comparing the two screens, it was obvious. I agree with a previous comment above that- accurate colour profile is just that. You can calibrate a screen but, somethings you can't calibrate out. I'm a photographer so, there's just no way I can sit there and accept that after waiting 4 years to buy another phone- I've spent £670 on a phone that has a screen that's fundamentally worse than the phone it's meant to replace. And objectively, with a trained eye for these things- the image quality is better on my 6s vs the 13 mini.
Sent back for a refund.
Thank you all for your comments and I didn't expect this issue with a new phone. I recognise that OLED isn't the same as LCD but the benefits of OLED should offset any other issues eg- the contrast was crap, washed out, no way there should be bad contrast on an OLED vs LCD.
I setup an account just to post here, long time Apple user (20years). It's 2nd Nov 2021. I've got the same issue with the 13 mini. I've come from an iphone 6s (because- you know, I'm up to date like that [and it's got a headphone jack]). Got the 13 mini, took 2 hours to set it up. Finally set up then I just looked at it and thought- wait a minute that screen looks like sh*t. Messed about, couldn't fix it. Spoke to Apple, messed about some more. Switching off auto-brightness made a massive difference (before that screen was dark af). Did all the usual stuff (true tone etc etc etc)- and yeah, the cast/white balance is yellow and the contrast is poor (even after turning up the foreground/background colour contrast thingy). Apple said reinstall everything. Did that. Didn't fix it.
Thing is, once I've seen one screen against another, I can't unsee it and what I saw I saw without comparing the two screens, it was obvious. I agree with a previous comment above that- accurate colour profile is just that. You can calibrate a screen but, somethings you can't calibrate out. I'm a photographer so, there's just no way I can sit there and accept that after waiting 4 years to buy another phone- I've spent £670 on a phone that has a screen that's fundamentally worse than the phone it's meant to replace. And objectively, with a trained eye for these things- the image quality is better on my 6s vs the 13 mini.
Sent back for a refund.
Thank you all for your comments and I didn't expect this issue with a new phone. I recognise that OLED isn't the same as LCD but the benefits of OLED should offset any other issues eg- the contrast was crap, washed out, no way there should be bad contrast on an OLED vs LCD.
