iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 Pro Max screen drops to half brightness (video included)

[Nautigar]

Hello, I noticed the following unusual behavior with my shiny new iPhone 12 Pro Max: When I use my phone a little more intensively (e.g. by playing a stupid 2D-game), the phone gets unusually warm, and after some minutes display brightness suddenly drops to approximately half. This happens abruptly, not gradually like when auto brightness kicks in (auto brightness is off by the way). If I try to adjust brightness while the phone is in that weird state, the display won't get any brighter when I move the slider beyond approximately 50%. See the attached video. As soon as the phone cools down, the display abruptly returns to normal brightness and the brightness slider works normally again.

I am just curious if anyone else experienced this issue or whether this is an isolated case. Anyway, I am going to send the phone back because it also suffers from the yellow tint that many are reporting and from the focus problems at closer distances and lower light that some are reporting.

 

[coney718]

I had this happen yesterday with my Pro Max. I was watching Netflix and the screen just dimmed out of nowhere. Adjusting the brightness had no effect. It went back to normal after a 1-2 minutes and hasn’t happened since but it was weird.

 

[seble]

My iPhone 11PM used to drop the brightness massively if it was overheating. I think that is as designed

 

[Nautigar]

@seble: That's what I thought at first as well. However, I have been playing the exact same game (Farm Heroes Saga) on my iPhone XS Max for hours without any issue. Shouldn't the A14 chip be more efficient and produce less heat at the same task?

 

[UKapple73]

There is an issue with some games overheating the phone. PhoneArena did a battery life test and found the 12pm had much lower life with some games than even the 12 mini. Obviously an issue that needs fixing. I don’t game on it so I’ve not seen this overheating

 

[Nautigar]

@UKapple73: Thanks for the info! Maybe my problem is related to that. However, the stupid game I am playing is not 3D, it is a simple puzzle game where you need to swap fruits, and PhoneArena did not mention that the phones reduced brightness while they were getting hot. So I still doubt that this behavior is normal.

 

[UKapple73]

Yes that is normal if the phone overheats to a certain level, it will reduce the brightness of the screen

 

[Nautigar]

Just want to report back: The 14.2.1 update published today fixes the heat issue and, as a consequence, the brightness drop.

 

[Kira322]

Is that fixed?

 

[ubercool]

No, it’s not fixed. My iPhone Pro Max drops brightness in bright sunlight, which drives me crazy. There seems to be a correlation between the iPhone heating up because once I get home in the AC, maximum brightness returns back to normal. I have an appointment with a Genius this Friday to check it out.

 

[Pskordilis]

No, it’s not fixed. My iPhone Pro Max drops brightness in bright sunlight, which drives me crazy. There seems to be a correlation between the iPhone heating up because once I get home in the AC, maximum brightness returns back to normal. I have an appointment with a Genius this Friday to check it out.

From curiosity, what apple genius told you? Cause i have the same problem as many others.

 

[Lightningbulb]

From curiosity, what apple genius told you? Cause i have the same problem as many others.

No, it’s not fixed. My iPhone Pro Max drops brightness in bright sunlight, which drives me crazy. There seems to be a correlation between the iPhone heating up because once I get home in the AC, maximum brightness returns back to normal. I have an appointment with a Genius this Friday to check it out.

Having same problem too. Curious as well if it was resolved…..

 

[Pskordilis]

Having same problem too. Curious as well if it was resolved….

As you can understand no one can resolve it cause it’s a hardware problem. And I mean Hardware problem from the factory. And not specific devices