It's not burn in but
image persistence. ALL LCD displays suffer this retention and there is NO way to element it (until Apple moves to OLED). If you have a bright static screen on for a while you will get it NO matter what you do.
That's complete bullcrap. I've owned plenty of LCD displays. I've owned the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, early 2008 MBP 15", early 2011 MBP 15", mid-2012 rMBP 15", iPad, iPad 2, and have an iPad rMini on the way. I've also owned an old Pentium laptop (IBM?) back in the day, an Inspiron 17", an Olevia 32" HDTV, an LG 42" HDTV, a DoubleSight H-IPS 27" monitor. I also used daily a Mac Pro lab at school with Cinema displays, and have a late 2012 iMac 27" at work.
The only displays I've seen get the image retention were the mid-2012 rMBP, the iPad 2, and the late 2012 iMac at work. The rMBP got worse over time and I returned it. Instead of replacing the unit, Apple actually shipped it to Texas where they installed a new Samsung display. The Samsung display, honest to everything holy, is the most beautiful display I've ever seen. The LG display was extremely distracting since I do a lot of design work. I could clearly see lines overlapping things on the screen. It was a pile of crap. My iPad 2 also had an LG display. It developed retention issues towards the top and bottom of the screen. For instance, I could actually read URLs from Safari when turning the iPad back on, even 5 minutes later. I could see them shining through on the lock screen. If I left it on the home screen, I could make out the top and bottom row of icons on my iPad. It was completely awful. But it didn't start getting bad and noticeable until the one year warranty had expired. It might have started before that. I didn't use the iPad much that summer as I was working an internship at the other end of the state and my wife mainly kept the iPad during that time, and when I came back it looked really bad. Lastly, my work iMac has this issue but it's a bit different. It has more of a vertical component to it—purplish blue lines that go down the screen. They kind of have small gaps between them. It's really weird. It started out being pretty faint, and it's still less noticeable than my rMBP before it was fixed, but I believe it's getting worse over time. LG screens are crap, but my 42" LG HDTV at home is good. It was purchased sometime in 2009 or 2010.
No other displays that I've ever used have had this issue. Just a 2011 iPad 2, and two Macs from 2012. It's a recent issue and not a good sign. We pay more for Apple to get quality. I was impressed with Apple quickly sending my display off for repair, coming back from Texas before the week was out. Now I freaking love my rMBP. It's absolutely gorgeous! I had missed out on the warranty for my iPad 2. This iMac was purchased in the spring of 2013. My work probably bought Apple Care but I'll have to double check. I might have to send it away and use my rMBP for the week.
I just hope my rMini doesn't have this problem! I'll be furious.
