Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone X PWM (Flicker) and New iPhones
- Thread starter 1369281
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Is it the same with 50% brightness?Just picked up my Max, I went to a nearby cafe and played with it for 10 mins, got some slight eye strain with 100% brightness. Gonna try messing with the settings and see if anything changed. It's really too bad, this phone is PERFECT. I have pretty big hands, so I love the 6.5 display. Perfect screen size, excellent resolution, everything I've wanted in an iPhone.
Except that stupid PWM
Looks like I’m going to have to skip the XS.
iPhone has become a part of my identity after becoming absolutely enthralled by Steve’s keynote introduction of the original iPhone (at that age I probably watched that video a hundred times and showed it to anyone who cared to see it) and subsequently becoming practically obsessed with owning the original iPhone. After trying it in an Apple Store when it was released I knew I had to have it so at 12 years old I hustled hard over the next two weeks doing odd jobs (seriously, no parental assistance) and sold both my Nintendo DS and Zune, my two favorite devices at the time, on eBay to buy an 8GB iPhone for $599. On the upside that phone taught me a lot and quite honestly shaped the rest of my childhood and life more than anything else has.
I had planned to go down having owned every single iPhone since an annual upgrade is as much a part of my identity as my name. But that simply isn’t possible anymore. However, I’ll continue to support Apple whenever possible and will remain optimistic about this being improved in future generations.
iPhone has become a part of my identity after becoming absolutely enthralled by Steve’s keynote introduction of the original iPhone (at that age I probably watched that video a hundred times and showed it to anyone who cared to see it) and subsequently becoming practically obsessed with owning the original iPhone. After trying it in an Apple Store when it was released I knew I had to have it so at 12 years old I hustled hard over the next two weeks doing odd jobs (seriously, no parental assistance) and sold both my Nintendo DS and Zune, my two favorite devices at the time, on eBay to buy an 8GB iPhone for $599. On the upside that phone taught me a lot and quite honestly shaped the rest of my childhood and life more than anything else has.
I had planned to go down having owned every single iPhone since an annual upgrade is as much a part of my identity as my name. But that simply isn’t possible anymore. However, I’ll continue to support Apple whenever possible and will remain optimistic about this being improved in future generations.
Last edited:
Is it possible to get eye strain right out of the box? Or is it in my head because I’ve been reading this thread?? I’m hoping it’s the latter. I like the size (XS) coming from a larger plus model.
It could be easier. The mind is very susceptible to suggestion. If it makes you feel better, NotebookCheck just said this about PWM in the iPhone XS:
"Brightness control by means of pulse width modulation is typical for OLED technology. Although the frequencies are quite low at around 240 Hz, the amplitude curve is so shallow that only very sensitive people should experience discomfort."
Yeah... I think I’m gonna give it time. I mean I do have very sensitive eyes and I am prone to headaches. So I should know within the 14 day return period. I think the size is really convenient. So I’m hoping for the best!
Or iPhone XR's, which is what I'm getting. I would prefer to get 256GB to future proof in case it's the last iPhone for a while that I can use, but with the additional cost it's going to be 128GB and pray that there is another LCD iPhone in the future.
I believe the number is a lot higher, but people aren’t educated on the topic to know what is occurring.
I’ve heard estimates of ~10% but I don’t have a source on that. I think a lot of those affected don’t know they are simply because they haven’t find the connection between displays/LED lights and their symptoms yet.
Pretty easy to disable PWM in low ambient brightness conditions by applying a screen filter via Reduce White Point: https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2018/10/...sabling-iphone-xs-and-xs-max-display-flicker/
Caveat: this is not automatic. One must triple-click the side button to disable/enable PWM or tap an icon in the Control Center. Once everything is configured as described, the trick actually works on all iPhone X/Xs/Xs Max devices.
Caveat: this is not automatic. One must triple-click the side button to disable/enable PWM or tap an icon in the Control Center. Once everything is configured as described, the trick actually works on all iPhone X/Xs/Xs Max devices.
Just picked up my Max, I went to a nearby cafe and played with it for 10 mins, got some slight eye strain with 100% brightness. Gonna try messing with the settings and see if anything changed. It's really too bad, this phone is PERFECT. I have pretty big hands, so I love the 6.5 display. Perfect screen size, excellent resolution, everything I've wanted in an iPhone.
Except that stupid PWM
There is no PWM at 100%.
For me I’m starting to wonder if it’s PWM or the actual brightness of the display. Because I’ve found that I prefer a more “warm” display and out of the box it seems very bright/bluish tint. I’m curious if that could be the case for others. I didn’t know this until I used an iPhone with True Tone which makes it more “warm” compared to without. I am debating on whether or not I want to try this out to see as it’s a lot of money to spend for something that may not work.
I can’t view my phone at 100% brightness, way too bright. I turn it down to about 50%.
Much easier on my eyes.
Even at 50% I’ve felt like OLED displays are too bright for me. But I’ve never tried applying a warmer screen setting. So I’m definitely curious now.
You don’t need True Tone to make the screen warmer. (Although True Tone is automatic) you can apply color manually via the color settings. General -> accessibility -> display accommodations —> color filters
Last edited:
Thanks I am aware of that setting. I just didn’t know that I would prefer it until experiencing True Tone.
Depending on the severity, the issue may or may not go away, if there is one.
I had burning eyes, but it went away for me, personally. Many that suffer with PWM have had persistent problems and have had to stop using an OLED iPhone.
Are you sure? Try displaying a 15% gray image at 100% and check for PWM. I'm fairly sure you will find it.
What I don’t understand is, the trick with the white point filter (I think it came up in this thread before), how can this work? By turning on that filter and then increasing the brightness too 100 % you can achieve a very dark display without flickering. So technically it’s possible to achieve by software. The only thing is, why get an expensive phone with a great display and then putting a filter over everything?
Notebookcheck says PWM is implemented only at 99% or less. I actually think that's almost irrelevant because I doubt most people would run the phone at 100% brightness all the time, but if someone's testing at 100% they shouldn't see any pulsing.
[doublepost=1546084717][/doublepost]
Interesting. At 100% it shouldn't be PWM because the display isn't dimmed. Something else - I don't know. The eye/brain connection is very complicated.
If you haven't bought the phone, and it's not inconvenient, Apple's return policy is very good. If you're not happy, you get your money back.
[doublepost=1546084811][/doublepost]
I think someone already posted this link, but just for the heck of it:
https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2018/10/...sabling-iphone-xs-and-xs-max-display-flicker/
I just tried to exchange my X to get a 8Plus at a third party retailer (not Apple, because Apple does not sell it anymore). The guy said, once I put in my iCloud address they can not take the phone back or exchange it because the warranty starts at that point when I type in my iCloud password. Don’t know what to do now. Also called Apple. They say they do not know that problem.
Now I have to sell the X on eBay I guess... can’t look at the screen for longer than 10 min.
Now I have to sell the X on eBay I guess... can’t look at the screen for longer than 10 min.
I know this is old but I have the pro max iPhone 11 and was wondering how soon I’d know if I suffer from pwm. I’ve had the phone 14 days and just now am feeling off. Is that this or something else.
This is the current thread on this topic: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-strain-while-using-iphone-x.2085427/
Here is a great post that sums up what we know on this issue: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-strain-while-using-iphone-x.2085427/page-112#post-27798203