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iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 15 Pro Max Display Brightness

JonoNZ

JonoNZ

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 4, 2012
115
72
Auckland, New Zealand
I was in an Apple Store and compared the brightness of a display model. When turned to maximum brightness (with Trutone off and Night Shift off) the display model was considerably brighter than my own 15 Pro Max.

Do they run the display models in store at the maximum avilable brightness (as if used outdoors), or should I be seeing the same level of brightness on my iPhone? The display model was plugged in on mains power.

My partners 15 Pro Max has the same maximum brightness as mine.
 
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I read in these forums there is a bug with the brightness. Apparently if you disable auto brightness and then do a reset of the phone holding the power button until the apple icon appears, it will fix the brightness.
 
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I am having a strange issue with my phone where when the brightness is low and Night Shift is on, there is a red tint on the right side of the screen. I took it to the store and they compared it to the display unit 15 Pro Max, and the two phones otherwise had the same brightness, the store people said they looked identical at higher brightnesses. But at the same time the guy though mine had an issue with the ambient light sensor at first because the brightness kept going up and down.
 
zonai said:
I am having a strange issue with my phone where when the brightness is low and Night Shift is on, there is a red tint on the right side of the screen. I took it to the store and they compared it to the display unit 15 Pro Max, and the two phones otherwise had the same brightness, the store people said they looked identical at higher brightnesses. But at the same time the guy though mine had an issue with the ambient light sensor at first because the brightness kept going up and down.
Click to expand...
my 15 pro max is also showing a weird tint when it’s on low brightness and with night shift and true tone on, making my old 12 pro max look green!

so did they say your phone was normal in the end?
 
JonoNZ said:
I was in an Apple Store and compared the brightness of a display model. When turned to maximum brightness (with Trutone off and Night Shift off) the display model was considerably brighter than my own 15 Pro Max.

Do they run the display models in store at the maximum avilable brightness (as if used outdoors), or should I be seeing the same level of brightness on my iPhone? The display model was plugged in on mains power.

My partners 15 Pro Max has the same maximum brightness as mine.
Click to expand...
When visiting the store, you should have asked staff how the display was set since one of the staff who set up the displays should know it. How about you visit the store again so you can get the right answer for your question since they are the subject matter expert on this?😊
 
I’ve seen the same behavior in stores. The iPhones there seem much brighter than what users get.
 
is anyone else with a 15 pro max able to go into a dark room with night shift, auto brightness and true tone on and let us know if the screen looks like a more pinky tent then previous iphones? unsure if there is an issue with the iphone or it’s a bug? it’s affecting my concentration when i’m scrolling in bed haha
 
zonai said:
I am having a strange issue with my phone where when the brightness is low and Night Shift is on, there is a red tint on the right side of the screen. I took it to the store and they compared it to the display unit 15 Pro Max, and the two phones otherwise had the same brightness, the store people said they looked identical at higher brightnesses. But at the same time the guy though mine had an issue with the ambient light sensor at first because the brightness kept going up and down.
Click to expand...
It’s panel lottery. I had the same on the left side of my 13 Pro. Warmer reddish gray you could see at night on the left. Many phones are like that, I tested some demo units which were the same. It depends on the position from where in the bigger OLED panel the screen was cut. Outer parts are less uniform especially in low brightness. Common in televisions too. You can try a return but it’s not granted that the new phone will be better. I kept the phone in the end and I never noticed it anymore once I decided that it’s quite common and I didn’t care. My new 15 Pro Max has a great uniform screen in comparison. It has two minor flaws but I’m keeping it as I don’t want to risk bigger flaws or a worse screen
 
The demo units have Auto Brightness turned off and the manual brightness cranked to 100% for display purposes. If you go into accessibility and manually turn on AB, then turn the display off on the demo and then turn it back on, your personal phone should end up being just as bright or even brighter since both phones start adjusting the max value based on ambient light.
 
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JonoNZ said:
Do they run the display models in store at the maximum avilable brightness (as if used outdoors)
Click to expand...
Considering your partner gets the same brightness I would bet on the store units tapping into part or all of the full 2000 nits the screen can hit outdoors via the demo unit firmware.
 
I have turned off auto brightness then restarted and that seems to give the brightness quite a boost.

I have never used Night Shift as it’s way too warm for my taste. I’ve also never really used True Tone before either, but I have been playing with it a bit on the 15 PM. What I have found interesting is that during the day it actually makes the display cooler (bluer tint) than with it off. I never realised that True Tone would cool the display its standard settings. Evenings and some other environments it definitely makes it warmer which I am not a fan of.
 
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Roberto96 said:
my 15 pro max is also showing a weird tint when it’s on low brightness and with night shift and true tone on, making my old 12 pro max look green!

so did they say your phone was normal in the end?
Click to expand...
They did. Because the store's lighting was too bright to see the phone effectively in low brightness, and according to their diagnostics tools which turned off Night Shift and True Tone, nothing was wrong with the screen. They thought it was software but I just updated to 17.0.3 and it ain't software.
 
PegasusTenma said:
I read in these forums there is a bug with the brightness. Apparently if you disable auto brightness and then do a reset of the phone holding the power button until the apple icon appears, it will fix the brightness.
Click to expand...
I just want to say you single handed saved my iPhone 15 pro, its super subtle cause the bug makes it look like the auto brightness slider is in synch with the system slider and it is just not. So I did that and now I am not getting blinded when I go to use it. So thanks for this, again.
 
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sziehr said:
I just want to say you single handed saved my iPhone 15 pro, its super subtle cause the bug makes it look like the auto brightness slider is in synch with the system slider and it is just not. So I did that and now I am not getting blinded when I go to use it. So thanks for this, again.
Click to expand...
I don't even have a 15PM but I am glad I was able to help!
 
Roberto96 said:
is anyone else with a 15 pro max able to go into a dark room with night shift, auto brightness and true tone on and let us know if the screen looks like a more pinky tent then previous iphones? unsure if there is an issue with the iphone or it’s a bug? it’s affecting my concentration when i’m scrolling in bed haha
Click to expand...

I have TrueTone + Night Shift + Dark Mode on, it looks just like my 13 Pro Max, but the screen is brighter.
 
JonoNZ said:
I was in an Apple Store and compared the brightness of a display model. When turned to maximum brightness (with Trutone off and Night Shift off) the display model was considerably brighter than my own 15 Pro Max.

Do they run the display models in store at the maximum avilable brightness (as if used outdoors), or should I be seeing the same level of brightness on my iPhone? The display model was plugged in on mains power.

My partners 15 Pro Max has the same maximum brightness as mine.
Click to expand...
I have figured it out everyone! My brand new phone is so dark when I’m outdoors I can barely see anything whilst the display was on max, nightshift and true tone off. I saw someone mention go to accessibility and make sure auto brightness is switched off there - mine was actually default on off for AB but I looked at all the other options and on accident slid the “reduce white point” button around to find that the default setting was set to 75%, I brought it all the way down to 0, and magic - my screen is actually readable and what I’d say is normal visibility for a new iphone 15 promax. I have been suffering for 1.5 week looking like a mole on public transport trying to read / send texts with phone right up to my nose.
What idiocy of apple to do this to us. I’m so glad I saved myself the 1h bus/train trip to have a teenager or hipster University student do this in 5 minutes. Fml
 
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