iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro screen uniformity issue

[woolypants]

I posted here a month or two ago about an iPhone 13 Pro Max that had a brighter bottom 50% of the screen. It looked like the top 50% of the screen was off axis when looking at it straight. Slightly green-ish.

Although not a huge issue, and probably not visible to other people unless it was pointed out, I asked Apple for a return. And around a month later the replacement arrived!

And it's got the same issue, but much less severe. In fact, it's barely noticeable even by me.

With this replacement phone, if you hold it so it's tilted away towards the top slightly (maybe 5 degrees), then the whole screen looks uniform when reading text on a white background. I wonder if this is how Apple envisage us holding a huge phone like the Pro Max. Rather than holding it square-on to our eyes.

So, I'm keeping it, despite this being a hugely expensive phone and me not being 100% happy with it. This seems to be the way with Apple products much of the time (e.g. my MBP 15in purchase had a gray wash to the screen, and I returned it for the one I have now; an iPad had a magenta tint, so I returned it). Is the problem with me, or is the problem with Apple? There are certainly major quality differences between stock they sell and I do feel that's dishonest because they don't discuss it at all.

Maybe screen technology just isn't as advanced as we believe it is. Maybe these screens just can't be mass manufactured correctly. Maybe COVID and supply chain issues are causing problems. But ultimately if you're buying a £1000+/$2000+ phone, it really has to be damn-near perfect.

 

[SumYoungGai]

I can understand you that it’s frustrating to have such display in your new phone. But I can assure you, that it’s normal. In normal usage case you can’t even see this. Most of these oled displays have some color tint. Every year is the same. I do not recommend playing the lottery game. You don’t know what you get next time. I did it with my iPhone 11 Pro Max when it came out and went through 6!!!! exchanges. Every phone had different flaws. Some of them had scratches, one had a broken displayglas. But ALL of them had different flaws with the oled display. Non of them had a perfect display. I finally gave up and kept the last one.
This year I will not do the lottery because I can’t see the color tint and the grey top bars at normal usage. I really hate keeping something new imperfect but to play the lottery in the hope get the unicorn display gives me stress. If you search for flaws you will find them! Enjoy your phone! Next year there’s a new one 😉

It’s not normal for a part of the screen to be more red than others -- this is a display defect to a degree that is beyond what we have seen with iPhone OLED displays of the past 4 years. Some people can see this red tinting up to 40-50% in normal nighttime usage, such as texting in a car when it's dark outside.

I have gone through 8 or 9 units (I've lost count) and they all have had it to some extent, but some are clearly better than others. The one I have right now has it minimally and I don't see it unless I'm looking for it, while a previous phone was so bad that it was clearly obvious to me at night (Safari appeared orange on top and without a tint on the bottom at 50%).

For anyone who doesn't want to read through 52 prior pages: change the phone out until you get the one that you are satisfied with, especially if you plan to keep this device for years. Avoid a Genius Bar display replacement if you can, which doesn't necessarily guarantee that the new screen is better and invalidates your ability to replace the device later on.

 

[nynee90]

I and my friend recently switched to iPhone 13 pro from Samsung s8. We both have same exact issue which is very annoying to me. I first thought it is only issue with my iPhone but it is on both. Even with same display settings two phones showing very different white and grey colour. Only difference is the storage he got 256 GB and I got 512 GB which I think not an issue at all. I requested several users closer to me and almost every single person complaining about that except few. It is definitely a hardware related issue and Apple should have to rectify it. Apple is known for great quality products but my whole point of switching to iPhone is useless because I want good quality display and now I have no option other then using 4 years old phone to edit photos on the go or use MacBook Pro. I’m in the country where replacement of iPhone device is very difficult. But still I am thinking of returning the device totally.

 

[Summ3r90]

I and my friend recently switched to iPhone 13 pro from Samsung s8. We both have same exact issue which is very annoying to me. I first thought it is only issue with my iPhone but it is on both. Even with same display settings two phones showing very different white and grey colour. Only difference is the storage he got 256 GB and I got 512 GB which I think not an issue at all. I requested several users closer to me and almost every single person complaining about that except few. It is definitely a hardware related issue and Apple should have to rectify it. Apple is known for great quality products but my whole point of switching to iPhone is useless because I want good quality display and now I have no option other then using 4 years old phone to edit photos on the go or use MacBook Pro. I’m in the country where replacement of iPhone device is very difficult. But still I am thinking of returning the device totally.

If you can return please return it, I'm unable to return or replace the phone, only can live with it or take it to Apple Authorized service center to have the display replace, I've done it twice, the first screen replace and second screen almost same, when view on white, the bottom part of the screen has slide pinkest tint to it. Call apple, they ask me to send it back again for screen replacement the third time, my phone has been with apple for 1 months, the worst part of it is they scratches the stainless steel frame while replacing the screen, when I talk to apple about it, they ask is the scratches affect functionality ? I'm like WTF. so they wont fix the scratches for me, only screen. So if you can return it, I think you should, and order another one if you want, or go with other phone.

 

[Numero7]

My experience is quite strange but I found similar experiences on Reddit...the screen of my 13 Pro Max is quite perfect in every normal condition except with very low temperatures: if I leave my phone outside for 5/10 minutes without using it, the screen becomes quite green (of course with low brightness and grey background) but If I keep it inside my home and start to use normally, the screen return completely normal and the green tint disappear.

 

[Bstephens]

My experience is quite strange but I found similar experiences on Reddit...the screen of my 13 Pro Max is quite perfect in every normal condition except with very low temperatures: if I leave my phone outside for 5/10 minutes without using it, the screen becomes quite green (of course with low brightness and grey background) but If I keep it inside my home and start to use normally, the screen return completely normal and the green tint disappear.

Low temps do effect electronics.

 

[German080]

Q

 

[Fred Zed]

good afternoon, I bought an iPhone 13 pro max. In the packaging from under the iphone there is a difference between the seals there are green stubs (the green arrow is closer and lower than the arrow at the bottom), what do you think is normal? iphone was not opened? Is it the same for everyone?

Send it back ASAP 🤣 since you’ve exposed all private information.
And make sure to send feedback as well.

Feedback - iPhone

Apple wants to hear from you. Send us your comments and feedback about iPhone.

www.apple.com

 

[German080]

Send

 

[Lexdexia]

Send it back ASAP 🤣 since you’ve exposed all private information.
And make sure to send feedback as well.

Feedback - iPhone

Apple wants to hear from you. Send us your comments and feedback about iPhone.

www.apple.com

Does sending feedback even matter? I’m pretty sure they know about all these issues internally already, but are shipping these defective OLED displays anyways so they can stop losing billions due to supply/manufacturing shortages.

 

[Lexdexia]

Gonna return my defective 13 Pro Max soon for a refund and play the lottery once more. Hopefully third time’s the charm? Perhaps the quality control tolerances improved a bit since September?

 

[Fred Zed]

Gonna return my defective 13 Pro Max soon for a refund and play the lottery once more. Hopefully third time’s the charm? Perhaps the quality control tolerances improved a bit since September?

Fingers and legs crossed for you 😂

 

[Hrti]

Gonna return my defective 13 Pro Max soon for a refund and play the lottery once more. Hopefully third time’s the charm? Perhaps the quality control tolerances improved a bit since September?

Not IMO. Currently have one with a red tint on the right side of the display, and one with a red tint on both sides. Both received a week ago. At least the dual sided red tint is kind of uniform as the whole display is pinkish 😂

 

[Fred Zed]

Does sending feedback even matter? I’m pretty sure they know about all these issues internally already, but are shipping these defective OLED displays anyways so they can stop losing billions due to supply/manufacturing shortages.

Probably not. But at least something was sent to them in an official capacity regarding the issue.

 

[Shadowbech]

Gonna return my defective 13 Pro Max soon for a refund and play the lottery once more. Hopefully third time’s the charm? Perhaps the quality control tolerances improved a bit since September?

Wait didn't you said you found decent one? Or am I dreaming?😆

 

[aroom]

My replacement was slightly better but still had a red tint on the right side fo the screen. I can't compromise this for such an expensive device. It's gonna be a refund for me and I will consider getting an iPhone 12 for the time being and maybe a 14 next year...

 

[Lexdexia]

Wait didn't you said you found decent one? Or am I dreaming?😆

No? You got me mixed up with someone else lol

 

[woolypants]

Do other brands suffer from this problem on their high-end models?

It always seems to me that Apple drops QC on their display panels to meet demand e.g. if they need 90% of manufactured panels to reach a given quality level, but demand needs more than this, then they just adjust the QC so that 95% are considered OK.

Most people won't ever realise their phone has a pink tint, or uneven whites. And the cost of dealing with those that do is less than the cost of rejecting manufactured panels, so it's all good from Apple's perspective.

 

[BollockEasterEurope]

Have no idea but i went through 4 different iPhones 13 Pro Max and each one had different level of uniformity and different amount of "yellowness". I dont see it on other phones with oled, they are either consistenly great or consistently bad. Amazon actually wants to ban my account since i made "too many returns" lol, go ahead, im not accepting ****** screen on consumption device for $1200

 

[Fred Zed]

Do other brands suffer from this problem on their high-end models?

It always seems to me that Apple drops QC on their display panels to meet demand e.g. if they need 90% of manufactured panels to reach a given quality level, but demand needs more than this, then they just adjust the QC so that 95% are considered OK.

Most people won't ever realise their phone has a pink tint, or uneven whites. And the cost of dealing with those that do is less than the cost of rejecting manufactured panels, so it's all good from Apple's perspective.

Yes other brands do have display quality issues as well. But you have to give it to Apple. Their display issues are much more consistent than others. 🤣

 

[Lexdexia]

Have no idea but i went through 4 different iPhones 13 Pro Max and each one had different level of uniformity and different amount of "yellowness". I dont see it on other phones with oled, they are either consistenly great or consistently bad. Amazon actually wants to ban my account since i made "too many returns" lol, go ahead, im not accepting ****** screen on consumption device for $1200

So did you get an acceptable one in the end?

 

[BollockEasterEurope]

So did you get an acceptable one in the end?

Yeah I gave up and am keeping one that is least yellow and have best viewing angles. I find in practice that i dont care that much about green/red discoloration, but cant live with yellow screen since to my eyes it makes movies/photos less charp. BUT im not happy, i just dont want to waste more time on that.

I was choosing between Pixel Pro/Samsung S21 Ultra/Apple 13 Pro Max. Pixel is not available in my country, Samsung has ****** Exynos cpu in Europe so i kinda dont have choice. Maybe i will switch to iphone 14 later.

 

[Lexdexia]

I decided to compare the screen uniformity of all the iPhones I still have on hand: 6, 8 Plus, and 13 Pro Max. Tested in a pitch black room at night using 50% grey PNG image set to full screen in photos. Brightness levels were set to minimum, Night shift was enabled on all devices, and True Tone enabled on all devices except the 6 since that doesn’t support it.

It turns out none of these devices had fully uniform displays, but what’s interesting was the lack of color uniformity on LCDs were hardly noticeable in comparison, and were more like a slight difference in brightness - the overall color of the screen was relatively the same throughout. I think that’s why I didn’t notice the lack of uniformity back when I used these phones daily.

Compared to the OLED 13 Pro Max, the bottom half of its screen had a green-ish tint while the top half had a red-ish tint. This major difference in hue is too blatantly obvious to be imperceptible in daily use, unless you’re someone suffering from macular degeneration or you’re a genius bar technician.

I’ll post a picture to show if I can find my old point and shoot.

It’s a shame how Apple’s quality control standards have fallen. I never had to deal with this much of a headache from manufacturing defects with the last couple iPhones I bought.

 

[BollockEasterEurope]

I decided to compare the screen uniformity of all the iPhones I still have on hand: 6, 8 Plus, and 13 Pro Max. Tested in a pitch black room at night using 50% grey PNG image set to full screen in photos. Brightness levels were set to minimum, Night shift was enabled on all devices, and True Tone enabled on all devices except the 6 since that doesn’t support it.

It turns out none of these devices had fully uniform displays, but what’s interesting was the lack of color uniformity on LCDs were hardly noticeable in comparison, and were more like a slight difference in brightness - the overall color of the screen was relatively the same throughout. I think that’s why I didn’t notice the lack of uniformity back when I used these phones daily.

Compared to the OLED 13 Pro Max, the bottom half of its screen had a green-ish tint while the top half had a red-ish tint. This major difference in hue is too blatantly obvious to be imperceptible in daily use, unless you’re someone suffering from macular degeneration or you’re a genius bar technician.

I’ll post a picture to show if I can find my old point and shoot.

I agree with everything. Every single iPhone 13 Pro Max that i tried in my hands had different shade of bottom part compared to top part. People say that OLED has amazing viewing angles but its simply not true. Good IPS LCD is very uniform, and you can only see brightness differences. Well with OLED (at least this one from iPhone, dont remember same problems with Samsung phones) you change viewing angle by a fraction of degree and colors change. At this point i dont know if its the problem with specific displays that iPhones uses or calibration/driver or something else or its just how current batches of OLED tech works.

 

[Lexdexia]

I agree with everything. Every single iPhone 13 Pro Max that i tried in my hands had different shade of bottom part compared to top part. People say that OLED has amazing viewing angles but its simply not true. Good IPS LCD is very uniform, and you can only see brightness differences. Well with OLED (at least this one from iPhone, dont remember same problems with Samsung phones) you change viewing angle by a fraction of degree and colors change. At this point i dont know if its the problem with specific displays that iPhones uses or calibration/driver or something else or its just how current batches of OLED tech works.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, while testing I placed three phones side by side flat on a table and looked at the screens directly on axis to rule out any off-axis color shift. Personally I look at my screens almost always on axis so the color shifts from a wider angle doesn’t bother me.

Either way, I think these issues are caused by Apple loosening quality control/quality assurance standards on purpose to deal with supply chain shortages and financial constraints. No amount of software calibration can fix inherent hardware faults.

The chance of a corporation as big and as experienced as Apple Inc. simply “not knowing” about their product defects is very unlikely. If they internally know this is a widespread issue, chances are they’re trying to fix it covertly already. Or if it’s a relatively small issue and everyone here including myself are just damn unlucky, they’ll play it off as if it never happened. Assuming they’ve sold 10 million iPhone 13 Pro Max models up to now, a batch of 10,000 defective phones is still merely 0.1% of 10 million.