Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
for 4/4s/3.5" screens:
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6458/img1492zy.jpg

for 5/5c/5s/ipodtouch 5th gen/4" screens:
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6493/img1496nd.jpg

If your screen has interlacing issues, there will be flickering near the bottom of the home screen when you set this as the default wallpaper.

For some screens, it's faint flickering, some its like epilepsy flashing, and perfect screen no flicker at all.

It's a defect, but because it's fairly common, a genius may or may not see it as an issue and think its 'within spec'.

Best to be in a retail return situation if you are picky about this sort of thing

I just got lucky getting one without it (an iPhone 5) as an AppleCare over the phone swap for a different issue. I gave up on interlacing and finally won the lottery.

Actually kind of looks like a brush metal background, I kind of like it.

No flickering on any iPhone I've ever had- 3GS, 4S, 5S. Yes, I know I can't capture the effect with a screen grab.
 

Attachments

  • photo9.PNG
    photo9.PNG
    577.2 KB · Views: 221
I believe this thing its a bit too incomprehensible... because even that my screen does flicker a bit on the "save image" option, it doesnt flicker on the test done in Triangle Man URL... and it doesnt flicker at all in any other circunstances, not on the homescreen, not in transitions... and in normal usage with normal wallapaper it doesnt present any flicker, so... i believe the screen its fine after all, i even looked right now my screen with a scientific magnifying glass and the pixels dont do a vertical line, like they showed on the apple support comunity
 
I think with iOS 7 it's hard to use the test image as your wallpaper, because iOS resizes the wallpaper image in order to support the parallax motion, which would of course disrupt its purpose as a precise pixel-aligned test image. Not sure if enabling "Reduce Motion" restores the wallpaper to a 1:1 size or not.
 
but even if its resized or not, you can see the image in safari browser, and it does not flick on mine at least ><. only when get blurred for save the image in the album ...
 
for 4/4s/3.5" screens:
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6458/img1492zy.jpg

for 5/5c/5s/ipodtouch 5th gen/4" screens:
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6493/img1496nd.jpg

If your screen has interlacing issues, there will be flickering near the bottom of the home screen when you set this as the default wallpaper.

For some screens, it's faint flickering, some its like epilepsy flashing, and perfect screen no flicker at all.

It's a defect, but because it's fairly common, a genius may or may not see it as an issue and think its 'within spec'.

Best to be in a retail return situation if you are picky about this sort of thing

I just got lucky getting one without it (an iPhone 5) as an AppleCare over the phone swap for a different issue. I gave up on interlacing and finally won the lottery.

I'm not sure if I have this or not. I just posted a thread about how the pixels seem more visible, but I think I may have interlacing issues. When I set the image to the home screen it doesn't flicker, but when the icons move when i tilt the screen it flickers pretty bad. Does that mean I have it?
 
When you're on iOS 7, don't test the image on your home screen without first turning on "Reduce Motion" then set the image as your background and bring up control center. To look for any flickering. Brightness also has to be set to 100% for maximum effect

----------

So I'm back after I said I wouldn't be back. I have a huge update, for me at least.


I simply could not "accept" the interlacing. It's just SUCH a bad issue. I caved and drove 200 miles to the nearest Apple store.

Let me start by saying if you do this, do NOT go in for "interlacing issues". Tell them you want a device that doesn't have a broken compass and you will instantly get better service from them. If not, 9 times out of 10 they will flat out waste your time and tell you "I don't see it" when you try to point out the screen lines.

Moving on. I get there and the guy brings out a replacement for me and it's PERFECT. I mean absolutely FLAWLESS. I've sat here and tried as hard as I could to even see a HINT of screen interlacing, even with my massive camera lense. It's just simply not there.

This is a DN serial number.

In other words, I won the iPhone lottery. I very well could have gotten a device that was even WORSE on my first try. And who knows how they would have handled that. I would have just complained about the compass being broken again or something.

The fact that this has resorted to a "lottery" with our $400 dollar phones is sad and I will not be buying another iPhone again, at least not on launch. Apple has ruined me as a customer. I'm not even interested in the new iPad. I don't have an iPad and this was going to be my first purchase. Now, I don't even want the damn thing. You can thank Apple for that.

There's literally no advice to give for this. It was pure luck. I wish you all the best luck with your lottery tickets. The amount of stress I've gone through for this is not worth it.

Same sentiments here. I really hope my next replacement is also flawless, I'll talk to the manager to see if they can get me a DN serial replacement rather than F2 just to try my luck. May I ask what color and storage configuration you have?

Did you have to prove to them that your compass was off? Or did they just immediately offer a swap?

I'm so tired of this... There's no point in getting an Apple product if they aren't willing to stand behind their products and ensure that our experience is good :/
 
When you're on iOS 7, don't test the image on your home screen without first turning on "Reduce Motion" then set the image as your background and bring up control center. To look for any flickering. Brightness also has to be set to 100% for maximum effect

----------



Same sentiments here. I really hope my next replacement is also flawless, I'll talk to the manager to see if they can get me a DN serial replacement rather than F2 just to try my luck. May I ask what color and storage configuration you have?

Did you have to prove to them that your compass was off? Or did they just immediately offer a swap?

I'm so tired of this... There's no point in getting an Apple product if they aren't willing to stand behind their products and ensure that our experience is good :/


I proved to them the compass was off by showing them the level. Do one bad reading, click the screen to where it shows red, and then flip it around for the even worse reading and they will instantly swap it out.

I will however say that one employee out of at least 10 who were there helping me (I went before they were open) ran up to us and went THEY'RE ALL LIKE THAT!!!

This is how the exchange went:

Employee: THEY'RE ALL LIKE THAT
Me: What?
Employee: Yeah. They're all like that. It's a software thing.
Me: Really? Because there's an iPhone 5S over there that doesn't have it.
Employee: Yeah well it's a software thing.
Me: But all my iOS 7 devices don't have this issues except the iPhone 5S.
Employee: The 5S is COMPLEEEEETELY different from the 5. The inside of these phones are TOTALLY different in every way.
Me: But you just said this is a software issue. So which is it? Software or hardware.
Employee: Well I mean....yeah like I said it's a software issue and it's gonna be fixed.
Me: Oh yeah? Based on what?
Employee 2: Yeah I can't find anything from Apple on this (he was searching google on a MBP).
Employee: You're not gonna find anything from Apple, dude (to employee 2).
Me: I'm taking this replacement. Just saying.

We opened it up and it was 2 degrees off and of course he gloats and **** about him being right but the point is I fought it until I got my replacement. I don't think you'll run into many know-it-alls (who know NOTHING) like this.

But like I said, I won't be doing this again next year. They can either raise their quality control standards to what they were before, or they can lose another customer. The choice is theirs. Sad thing is I don't think they care. Whatever saves them money I guess.
 
What you guys need to understand is with Steve gone and the remaining leadership, starting with Tim Cook, they are ALL bean counters. What that means is 2 things:

1. You will never see the quality control that was present during Steve era

2. Tim cook and gang will not work on improving quality it will probably keep going down so more profit can be milked.

Another example are the leaks, Tim Cook and gang don't see the need to spend the money and effort to keeps things tight under control until reveal.
 
So I'm back after I said I wouldn't be back. I have a huge update, for me at least.


I simply could not "accept" the interlacing. It's just SUCH a bad issue. I caved and drove 200 miles to the nearest Apple store.

Let me start by saying if you do this, do NOT go in for "interlacing issues". Tell them you want a device that doesn't have a broken compass and you will instantly get better service from them. If not, 9 times out of 10 they will flat out waste your time and tell you "I don't see it" when you try to point out the screen lines.

Moving on. I get there and the guy brings out a replacement for me and it's PERFECT. I mean absolutely FLAWLESS. I've sat here and tried as hard as I could to even see a HINT of screen interlacing, even with my massive camera lense. It's just simply not there.

This is a DN serial number.

In other words, I won the iPhone lottery. I very well could have gotten a device that was even WORSE on my first try. And who knows how they would have handled that. I would have just complained about the compass being broken again or something.

The fact that this has resorted to a "lottery" with our $400 dollar phones is sad and I will not be buying another iPhone again, at least not on launch. Apple has ruined me as a customer. I'm not even interested in the new iPad. I don't have an iPad and this was going to be my first purchase. Now, I don't even want the damn thing. You can thank Apple for that.

There's literally no advice to give for this. It was pure luck. I wish you all the best luck with your lottery tickets. The amount of stress I've gone through for this is not worth it.

i have a question, i dont understand whats connects the screen flicker with the interlacing issues, coz i have tested my display with a scientific magnifying glass (it was fun) and my iPhone 5 have the same pixel organization as the iPhone 5 picture ive got in the apple community

attachment.php


but the screen does flicker ONLY when i have the test image on safari and blur it with iOS 7 effect when i try to save photos... so.. what its the connection between this two issues?
 
I'm pretty anal about things like these, but I tried my hardest to notice something with my 5s screen, and just when I thought I did...I powered up my old 5 to compare. The screen on my 5 is a hair brighter, but also has a bit more backlight bleed but pretty negligible. I used the wallpaper mentioned earlier and didn't see any flashing that I could really notice with the screen brightness at 100% either...perhaps BARELY on the 5s, but that could've been my strained eyes from working on the PC for over an hour.

Maybe both of the phones I have had had crappy screens. :eek:
 
Basically when it comes to the pixel arrangement, they will be practically identical for displays regardless of the flickering issue or not. The photo that was linked actually had the pixels slightly out of focus to demonstrate the difference in their output brightness. The alternating output of brighter and darker pixels appears to shimmer across the screen (badly calibrated electrode voltage for pixel inversion) giving the effect of lines. That is why the test image flickers, it shows the brightening and darkening of individual lines of pixels spaced appart

If you want to see the effect through a magnifying glass, keep the pixels slightly out of focus and move your head forwards and backwards, you will see the lines sort of shimmer in and out of existence on the screen. This lines will appear to be 2 pixels wide and is exremely apparent on flat grey icons like the artists icon in the music app.
 
i have a question, i dont understand whats connects the screen flicker with the interlacing issues, coz i have tested my display with a scientific magnifying glass (it was fun) and my iPhone 5 have the same pixel organization as the iPhone 5 picture ive got in the apple community

Image

but the screen does flicker ONLY when i have the test image on safari and blur it with iOS 7 effect when i try to save photos... so.. what its the connection between this two issues?

People need to stop using that "screen flicker" test image.

People are all over this thread saying "I SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH MY SCREEN BUT IT STILL FLICKERS WITH THE TEST IMAGE"

It clearly proves nothing. Not to the naked eye at least. If you can't see lines with a magnifying glass, then just be happy lol.
 
I'm not sure if I have this or not. I just posted a thread about how the pixels seem more visible, but I think I may have interlacing issues. When I set the image to the home screen it doesn't flicker, but when the icons move when i tilt the screen it flickers pretty bad. Does that mean I have it?

No, parallax effect and opening apps animation there will be flicker on ALL devices.

I'm talking about parallax off or laying your phone down on the table perhaps, a still image, it should not flicker.

Thank you for posting the test image. Fortunately my 5 does not evidence the effect. Curious as to how prevalent this issue may be.

Prevalent.

People need to stop using that "screen flicker" test image.

People are all over this thread saying "I SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH MY SCREEN BUT IT STILL FLICKERS WITH THE TEST IMAGE"

It clearly proves nothing. Not to the naked eye at least. If you can't see lines with a magnifying glass, then just be happy lol.

I don't know how many times it needs to be said, but I'll say it again:

the test image is perfect to confirm your suspicions if you are under the impression your screen may be a bit 'off' coming from whatever screen/phone you had before. If you're 100% satisfied, why go looking for problems? especially if you had a crappy screen from a different manufacturer, just enjoy it.

If I say your girlfriend is ugly, but you still find her beautiful, who gives a crap.. you're the one dating her.

Just like you could say my iPhone 5 is crap, or you prefer space grey to my slate, or you think black is ugly all together and white with gold or silver all the way. It doesn't impact me in any way, shape, or form. Or maybe you prefer droid. It's not the end of the world one way or another.

But IMO, these interlacing screens are crap.

What you guys need to understand is with Steve gone and the remaining leadership, starting with Tim Cook, they are ALL bean counters. What that means is 2 things:

1. You will never see the quality control that was present during Steve era

2. Tim cook and gang will not work on improving quality it will probably keep going down so more profit can be milked.

Another example are the leaks, Tim Cook and gang don't see the need to spend the money and effort to keeps things tight under control until reveal.

Let's not rewrite history. Apple has always had a shaky QC rep, and it unfortunately has deteriorated quite a bit but it's hard to say if it's a leadership issue or just pumping out too many products now that literally everyone and their grandma owns or "has to have one" if they don't already. But they've always had QC issues and it probably has gotten worse with Tim Cook, and I'm all about critiquing the man, but it's not like it went from being finely crafted in Japan to being whipped together in Foxconn, it's been Foxconn for quite a while. But FWIW, iPad 3 trying to get a good screen was the most exhausting exchange process of my life. iPad 4 seemed not that much better (if you were image retention and multiple hue sensitive to screens like my eyes are) and in fact I gave up after two and returned to my 3 because I didn't want to play the game. The 5s I had briefly had a perfect screen, albeit my 5 has a better tint to it and still seems to be marginally superior. BUT something like 13 out of 15 phones I've looked at in stores have been complete crap. Not even slight interlacing, INTENSE instantly noticeable interlacing.

A brief rundown of some Apple products that had problems (and feel free to look them up, I'm not making them up out of thin air):
iPhone 1st gen had 'negative black' crushing, x-ray effect on dark movies, 3g suffered from light leak running down a whole side, 3gs i cant remember but maybe a bit of backlight bleed too (and i'm sure some interlace-y screens for all three as well in addition to negative black), 4/4s had HORIZONTAL interlacing, my iPad 2 had intense backlight bleed on the left side but I never bothered swapping it out, I've experienced some non unibody macbook pros being a stronger build than others, keyboards more clicky and less mushy than others, with the ipod 3rd gen there was white backlights and blue backlights. Oh and Image Retention iMacs as well.

Historically, screen quality has been the thing that Apple struggles with ,because they keep using suppliers that are garbage but fit the budget. Some suppliers are really good, that's why some people have perfect screens and others dont. It's not a calibration issue necessarily since no two screens are really exactly the same, but it's a manufacturer panel vs manufacturer panel inherent quality differences.

My theory is this is all LG related since they have a bad track record (Image retention on iMacs, they were the sole supplier of those screens if they aren't still..) and LG Nexus 4 shows the same interlacing effect too easily noticeable on blues (like facebook icon for example). Take those examples, coupled with the supplier rumors that Apple is using LG more and more often in their products and continually shying away from Samsung at every opportunity (Screw Samsung, right? I don't think so..), and you got yourself as good a guess as any.

It also coincides with EVERY iPad 4 I've come across has image retention (and ALL image retention macbook pros are LG). I'm sure there are iPad 4's without it, but since LG was supposedly main supplier of 4, it explains why I saw so many that had the problem.

tl;dr I'm picky with screens, Apple's always struggled this one but it's becoming insanely prevalent to the point of being 95% of display models I come across. And if you're picky, you're picky. If you're not, consider it a blessing in this age where quality control is an extinct idea but across the whole industry.
 
Last edited:
I think that the reason Apple is able to get away with defects like this is that most people don't see the "interlace" effect and also, even people who do see it either A. Are not bothered by it or B. Think it's perfectly normal on a mobile device or C. Have always had it and doesn't know what it's like to not have it.

Then there are us who are sensitive to it especially after replacing their iPhone that had a perfect display. That's what I'm going through. It's hard to adjust to an inferior display when my old iPhone was flawless.
 
Just got my next replacement... this time it's a DN week 40. All my previous ones have been week 31.

To report: It still flickers with the test image, however I'm having a legitimately difficult time seeing the lines like on other models. I think the panel in this one is a much better calibrated one than the batch week 31's had.

I may just keep this one, I don't mind the edge-case flickering so long as the image quality is there.

Still not perfect, but a hellova lot better than I was dealing with before. (Hurray?)
 
Got week 39 DN serial slate 16gb. Compass off by -1 and screen is fantastic. NO lines just light flicker when saving that grey image. Otherwise perfect.

----------

Got week 39 DN serial slate 16gb. Compass off by -1 and screen is fantastic. NO lines just light flicker when saving that grey image. Otherwise perfect.
 
Just got my next replacement... this time it's a DN week 40. All my previous ones have been week 31.

To report: It still flickers with the test image, however I'm having a legitimately difficult time seeing the lines like on other models. I think the panel in this one is a much better calibrated one than the batch week 31's had.

I may just keep this one, I don't mind the edge-case flickering so long as the image quality is there.

Still not perfect, but a hellova lot better than I was dealing with before. (Hurray?)

Same here. It's not as bad as other iPhones I've seen so I'm just gonna keep it. I figure, if it's this hard to see the lines myself, people will think I'm crazy if I try to show them so it's not even worth risking a replacement that may be way worse.
 
Could this issue affect those with myopia/nearsightedness?

Compared to my iPhone 5 I'm noticing eye strain I didn't feel before now with the 5s...

I used that wallpaper again and did notice some faint flickering but only when I brought up control center.
 
Got my 5s today and noticed when I close an app the wallpaper on the home screen kind of jolts a little. Feels like a glitch. It happens frequently but not all of the time. Is this what you guys are talking about?
 
Seems like most of us with DN replacements don't have the issue, and if it's there is very minimal. My DN replacement now doesn't have the issue either, but it does have a recessed volume up button which is very weird... I guess I'll just walk in one day randomly and let them feel the button, if they say they can replace it then I'll just as for another DNP serial and hope that the screen is fine on that too :)
 
Hey! Mine is okay!

:) I was thinking that I had the issue, because when I went to save the image in Safari on my phone, the image flickered. But I saved it, and turned the motion off and set it as my wallpaper. I looked at it and there was no flicker. I am so happy.:D I was feeling frustrated when I saw it flicker when I went to save the image but now I am relieved. Thanks for the posting though.
 
:) I was thinking that I had the issue, because when I went to save the image in Safari on my phone, the image flickered. But I saved it, and turned the motion off and set it as my wallpaper. I looked at it and there was no flicker. I am so happy.:D I was feeling frustrated when I saw it flicker when I went to save the image but now I am relieved. Thanks for the posting though.

Don't go looking for things if it didn't bother you in the first place ;)

----------

Alright, Final replacement, DNP Serial, Manufacture week 36, everything is perfectly fine, screen exhibits no lines although I believe it is a bit on the warm side. hopefully that subsides!

All my other phones that had the issue were F2 and manufactured after week 35, my initial Week 35 F2 was fine. I have seen bad DN phones on display as well though, although I believe they are proportionally less compared to the F2 ones. Just keep trying and you will eventually win the lottery :)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.