Other This years screen lottery (17, 17 pro, 17 pro max and air)

[Regina del Mare]

I just got back from shopping at a department store and stopped by the phone section. They only had one unit of each model. The iPhone 17 Pro had blue/green shift, just like the others with LG panels. To my surprise, it was a G9Q. Is Samsung trying to imitate LG or what, lol.

So weird! 😅 I also thought my second unit of base 17 model was an LG, but it’s G9Q. I am really not an expert nor have I ever had interest in display lottery (until this year!), but even to me, the difference between both G9Q screens is huge! One of them is so nice, and the other one so obviously blueish (and both were tested with the same settings of True Tone and Night Shift).
Too bad I didn’t take the photo, since I already packed the phone in the box.

 

[sidezero]

I decided to perform another express replacement. It arrived today and also has a GH3 but it has significantly less green shift than the prior one they sent or the GVC before it.

 

[Fred Zed]

I came from an iPhone 16 Pro Max with a really good OLED panel — great viewing angles with no color shift, perfect brightness, good uniformity, and overall just a solid display. Back then, I checked and it had a Samsung G9P panel (same as my iPhone 15 Pro Max, which was also excellent).

As of today, I’ve gone through seven iPhone 17 Pro Max units. (All have the TT turned off)

• 1. iPhone 17 Pro Max Blue 256GB (GH3 panel) – Preorder unit. It arrived with great color uniformity and brightness, but had a noticeable green color shift at certain angles.
• 2. iPhone 17 Pro Max Orange 512GB (GH3 panel) – I thought, why not try the orange one? Unfortunately, worse color uniformity, lower brightness, and the green tint was more visible — even from the front it looked slightly green.
• 3. iPhone 17 Pro Max Silver 512GB (GH3 panel) – Tried silver, again GH3. At this point, I thought all Pro Max models came with this panel. It was better than the orange one, similar to the blue, but still had the green shift at angles. I decided to give it one more try…
• 4. iPhone 17 Pro Max Silver 256GB (G9N panel) – Went back to a smaller storage capacity since higher storage didn’t seem to mean a better panel. This one had the much-loved Samsung G9N. At first, I thought it was the perfect display — the green shift was gone, consistent colors at all angles — but then I noticed poor uniformity: the upper area looked yellowish, and overall it was a very warm panel (with True Tone and Night Shift off). I dislike warm and uneven screens, plus it was dimmer, so I went for another attempt…
• 5. iPhone 17 Pro Max Silver 512GB (GVC panel) – Good panel, but slightly green overall, noticeable green shift at angles. Still, it was uniform and bright — close, but not quite there yet. I decided to try one last time…
• 6. iPhone 17 Pro Max Silver 512GB (GVC panel) – Much better than all the previous five. Uniform, bright, accurate colors — overall a great panel. The green shift was still there but barely noticeable, the best I had seen so far. I said, “This is the one.” But then… I noticed a small gap between the screen and the frame on the top-right corner — slightly more than normal. So, here we go again…
• 7. iPhone 17 Pro Max Silver 1TB (GVC panel) – I thought maybe the higher-capacity model might have a better panel. It had good uniformity and brightness, but the green shift was more noticeable than on the previous one, and colors looked a bit duller.

In conclusion, I kept the sixth one — overall the best panel of them all. It’s a GVC, but I think it’s one of the good ones. The small screen-to-frame gap doesn’t really bother me anymore, and I don’t think it affects anything. Honestly, I’m done playing the display lottery this year it hasn’t been great at all, at least in my case (7 iPhone 17 Pro Max units total: 3 GH3, 3 GVC, and 1 G9N).

Sorry for the long post, this is as short as I could make it!

That’s what I call dedication 🤣 hopefully you’re not a yearly upgrader.

 

[Mick_ag]

Wow. Apple making good panels rare these days.

It’s not about going back again to the topic of what defines a panel’s quality—since it’s clear we’re never all going to agree on that—but the truth is that all four were very uniform, with neutral whites and natural colors, and the G9Q while having that blue/green color shift, had no pink tint at all. As far as I’m concerned, all four panels were very good.

 

[Mick_ag]

That’s what I call dedication 🤣 hopefully you’re not a yearly upgrader.

More like winning the shopping lottery, since it means I can start looking at phones instead of tagging along with my partner for other shopping lol.

 

[rasp14]

I decided to read some comments on Chinese social media, and what I found was pretty interesting.

Although there was no clear consensus, many netizens felt that gh3 was the premier panel, and that LG is better than Samsung.

According to one netizen who claimed that they chatted with Foxconn engineers, GH3 is a new LG production line using the latest technology and gh3 has the advantage of being brighter while maintaining energy efficiency. However, GH3 is likely to have off axis tint because "the new liquid crystal materials' adhesive layer doesn't fully dissolve during the lamination process of the screen cover glass" (don't know what that means).

Another commenter mentioned this:

GH3 uses TADF MLA(thermally activated delayed fluorescence improves efficiency, micro lens array directs light more towards the viewer instead of losing it sideways) which makes it the pinnacle of brightness and efficiency, but is expensive, complex, and can show off axis tint.​

GVC is traditional WRGB and is an old technology, soft and eye protective, but "the performance has peaked"​

G9N is the most mature RGB OLED system, balancing color accuracy and lifespan, and "is the core of future flagship devices"​

​

Many netizens felt that LG was easier on the eyes, some mentioning how switching to Samsung after being accustomed to LG made their eyes strained. However, some also stated that text on LG is more difficult to read. Most people agreed that the individual tags provide close to nothing in terms of the quality of the display and any tag can depict off axis tint. That being said, I read a lot of people say that a GVC/GH3 without off-axis tint is preferred to a Samsung.

Personally, I received a GH3 as my first device (Silver 17PM 256gb), returned it due to tint, and rolled another GH3 (Silver 17PM 256gb) of similar tint/quality immediately after. Not planning on returning again.

I'm curious to see what you all think of their opinions. Do you agree or disagree?

 

[thadoggfather]

Curious if you can Google Translate link us to these posts @rasp14 always interested in new data points

I can’t speak to any of that but anecdotally in this thread gh3 does seem to turn out better than gvc but like all things comes down to individual unit not serial# alone

 

[alknapps24]

I decided to read some comments on Chinese social media, and what I found was pretty interesting.

Although there was no clear consensus, many netizens felt that gh3 was the premier panel, and that LG is better than Samsung.

According to one netizen who claimed that they chatted with Foxconn engineers, GH3 is a new LG production line using the latest technology and gh3 has the advantage of being brighter while maintaining energy efficiency. However, GH3 is likely to have off axis tint because "the new liquid crystal materials' adhesive layer doesn't fully dissolve during the lamination process of the screen cover glass" (don't know what that means).

Another commenter mentioned this:

GH3 uses TADF MLA(thermally activated delayed fluorescence improves efficiency, micro lens array directs light more towards the viewer instead of losing it sideways) which makes it the pinnacle of brightness and efficiency, but is expensive, complex, and can show off axis tint.​

GVC is traditional WRGB and is an old technology, soft and eye protective, but "the performance has peaked"​

G9N is the most mature RGB OLED system, balancing color accuracy and lifespan, and "is the core of future flagship devices"​

​

Many netizens felt that LG was easier on the eyes, some mentioning how switching to Samsung after being accustomed to LG made their eyes strained. However, some also stated that text on LG is more difficult to read. Most people agreed that the individual tags provide close to nothing in terms of the quality of the display and any tag can depict off axis tint. That being said, I read a lot of people say that a GVC/GH3 without off-axis tint is preferred to a Samsung.

Personally, I received a GH3 as my first device (Silver 17PM 256gb), returned it due to tint, and rolled another GH3 (Silver 17PM 256gb) of similar tint/quality immediately after. Not planning on returning again.

I'm curious to see what you all think of their opinions. Do you agree or disagree?

All nonsense. WRGB isn’t even used in the iPhone.

 

[gvcg9n]

all nonsense, there is no MLA for mobile screen. It is very easy to check for MLA structure with a close up macro lens.

Imho, all this green tinting off angle feels like software fixable. The panel seems to react better in hotter or brighter conditions that minimise green tinting

 

[matteuk]

Thanks for this, first time I’ve seen a good representation of grain against a white screen. I could only conceptualize against a dark background

Looks like it’s not subtle?

Your welcome. Not sure why most people are just ignoring it. I’m really enjoying my G9N over that grainy GH3

 

[CaramelSky]

I decided to read some comments on Chinese social media, and what I found was pretty interesting.

Although there was no clear consensus, many netizens felt that gh3 was the premier panel, and that LG is better than Samsung.

According to one netizen who claimed that they chatted with Foxconn engineers, GH3 is a new LG production line using the latest technology and gh3 has the advantage of being brighter while maintaining energy efficiency. However, GH3 is likely to have off axis tint because "the new liquid crystal materials' adhesive layer doesn't fully dissolve during the lamination process of the screen cover glass" (don't know what that means).

Another commenter mentioned this:

GH3 uses TADF MLA(thermally activated delayed fluorescence improves efficiency, micro lens array directs light more towards the viewer instead of losing it sideways) which makes it the pinnacle of brightness and efficiency, but is expensive, complex, and can show off axis tint.​

GVC is traditional WRGB and is an old technology, soft and eye protective, but "the performance has peaked"​

G9N is the most mature RGB OLED system, balancing color accuracy and lifespan, and "is the core of future flagship devices"​

​

Many netizens felt that LG was easier on the eyes, some mentioning how switching to Samsung after being accustomed to LG made their eyes strained. However, some also stated that text on LG is more difficult to read. Most people agreed that the individual tags provide close to nothing in terms of the quality of the display and any tag can depict off axis tint. That being said, I read a lot of people say that a GVC/GH3 without off-axis tint is preferred to a Samsung.

Personally, I received a GH3 as my first device (Silver 17PM 256gb), returned it due to tint, and rolled another GH3 (Silver 17PM 256gb) of similar tint/quality immediately after. Not planning on returning again.

I'm curious to see what you all think of their opinions. Do you agree or disagree?

Disagree because its all speculation. Theres no proof either serial number belongs to either manufacturer.

I highly doubt everything mentioned, and personally have never noticed such a thing. These differences are minuscule and the only people who will agree will be agreeing through confirmation bias.

Sorry if I’m coming across as harsh, it’s just the reality at the moment.

 

[nunolikeapple]

Disagree because its all speculation. Theres no proof either serial number belongs to either manufacturer.

I highly doubt everything mentioned, and personally have never noticed such a thing. These differences are minuscule and the only people who will agree will be agreeing through confirmation bias.

Sorry if I’m coming across as harsh, it’s just the reality at the moment.

I understand that is your personal perception, but for me, those differences are far from minuscule and are, in fact, unacceptable.

In my own experience, I consistently observe much better results with G9N/G9Q screens compared to the others. This is my fourth [17PM] device, and the current one has a superb G9N screen—it is distinctly superior to my previous GVC and two GH3 screens in terms of color reproduction, uniformity, and brightness.

 

[matteuk]

I have to say the G9N screen is gorgeous after a week using it I’m really enjoying it over the GH3 I had originally. No grain so text is sharper. Colors are slightly more vibrant without being unrealistic. It even has less of a rainbow effect when using polarised lenses and a screen protector. Absolutely no colour shift off axis. Viewing angles are excellent in comparison. Feeling very lucky.