iPad Pro Who here has experienced PWM issues with the M4 & M5 OLED iPad Pros?

[Greenmeenie]

I'm interested in artists mostly, but anyone can chime in. 👍 It's been 2 years now since the OLED M4 iPad Pro was released & 6 months since the M5 OLED iPad Pro came out... so i was wondering who here has experienced PWM(pulse wave modulation) issues with their OLED iPad screens? Headaches, eyestrain, nausea? If you have, were you able to tolerate them? Or was it so bad you had to return your OLED iPad Pro and get the iPad Air or some other non OLED tablet?



I've tested out the 13" M5 iPad Pro in the Apple store twice and did feel something both times. A slight headache & eye strain. And that was in a brightly lit Apple store. I tend to draw late into the night on my iPad in a dimly lit room for hours. From what i understand about PWM, that's when it's the worst, in dimly lit rooms.



What has been your experience? Was it tolerable for you? Could you get used to it? Or was it so bad you just couldn't draw for hours at a time?



I prefer the iPad Pro for its super bright screen & thinness, but have no problem getting the 13" M4 iPad Air for drawing if PWM is going to be an issue for me. The 60hz refresh rate is a non issue for drawing. I tested both out and felt ZERO difference in fluidity when drawing btwn the 120hz display of the IPP & the 60hz IPA screen. Plus I'll save a ton of $ with the iPad Air.



Anyway, looking forward to hearing your experience with PWM & the OLED iPad Pro and how you dealt with it. Thanks for sharing any stories.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Search the forums for PWM and you’ll get plenty of info. Tolerating PWM is…a choice, but purposefully hurting your eyes/physical health seems unnecessary. Yes, the iPad OLEDS are some of the worst with PWM.

 

[usmaak]

I JUST posted this thread a minute ago.

iPad Pro M5 Nano Glass vs. iPad Air M4?

I have been trying an iPad Pro M5 Nano Glass for just about six weeks. My last day to return it is 4/1. It’s a great machine, though I’m not totally sold on the nano glass and think that it messes with the contrast and screen clarity a bit too much. The problem I am having with it is that it is...

forums.macrumors.com

I tried the M4 iPad Pro and quickly returned it because it destroyed my eyes. I have never had issues with PWM before. I have had OLED phones since the Samsung Galaxy S3 (on iPhone 17 Pro now) and have had experience with other OLED screens but there was just something about the iPad Pro that caused me a lot of pain.

I decided to try the M5 iPad Pro Nano Glass, even though it is the same screen as the M4. I thought that perhaps there might be some differences or that the nano glass might somehow make things better. And the M5 does not bother me as much as the M4, but it still bothers me enough that it seems dumb to keep it. Now I am trying to decide if I should go back to my trust M2 that is showing its age, or get an iPad Air M4, or keep the M5 and just not use it as much.

 

[Greenmeenie]

Search the forums for PWM and you’ll get plenty of info. Tolerating PWM is…a choice, but purposefully hurting your eyes/physical health seems unnecessary. Yes, the iPad OLEDS are some of the worst with PWM.

Oh I have searched the forums. I just wanted to start a more recent thread about PWM to see if those who’ve had the M4 iPad Pros for two years now still experience PWM effects & if so, have they gotten used to them over time. 🤔 As an artist, my eyes are important to me, so I am just gathering info from others and weighing it against my own limited experience with OLED screens on the iPad Pros. I plan to go to the Apple store again. Going to one that has the iPads in the basement floor so not so exposed to the direct sunlight of the Apple store I usually go to on the Upper West Side. From what I’ve read, the PWM effects are worse in dimmer conditions. Anyway, appreciate all the feedback. That’s what forums are for - posting & sharing to help each other. 👍🏼

 

[Greenmeenie]

I JUST posted this thread a minute ago.

iPad Pro M5 Nano Glass vs. iPad Air M4?

I have been trying an iPad Pro M5 Nano Glass for just about six weeks. My last day to return it is 4/1. It’s a great machine, though I’m not totally sold on the nano glass and think that it messes with the contrast and screen clarity a bit too much. The problem I am having with it is that it is...

forums.macrumors.com

I tried the M4 iPad Pro and quickly returned it because it destroyed my eyes. I have never had issues with PWM before. I have had OLED phones since the Samsung Galaxy S3 (on iPhone 17 Pro now) and have had experience with other OLED screens but there was just something about the iPad Pro that caused me a lot of pain.

I decided to try the M5 iPad Pro Nano Glass, even though it is the same screen as the M4. I thought that perhaps there might be some differences or that the nano glass might somehow make things better. And the M5 does not bother me as much as the M4, but it still bothers me enough that it seems dumb to keep it. Now I am trying to decide if I should go back to my trust M2 that is showing its age, or get an iPad Air M4, or keep the M5 and just not use it as much.

Yeah, I am upgrading from an 11” 2018 iPad Pro. It actually still works great as a media consumption device & I can still draw on it, i just don’t get as many layers in procreate & it’s not compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro that I use with my iPad mini 7 and love. I actually don’t mind going with the 13” M4 iPad Air. But if I was 100% sure that the M5 iPad Pro wouldn’t bother my eyes or give me headaches over the long term, I’d definitely go pro for the brighter screen. I have the iPhone 16 Pro Max and it’s OLED screen hasn’t been an issue. But then, I am not on my iPhone as long as I am on my iPad drawing. Gonna visit the Apple Store one more time and check out the screens again. Kinda annoying, but just wanna be sure.

 

[usmaak]

Yeah, I am upgrading from an 11” 2018 iPad Pro. It actually still works great as a media consumption device & I can still draw on it, i just don’t get as many layers in procreate & it’s not compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro that I use with my iPad mini 7 and love. I actually don’t mind going with the 13” M4 iPad Air. But if I was 100% sure that the M5 iPad Pro wouldn’t bother my eyes or give me headaches over the long term, I’d definitely go pro for the brighter screen. I have the iPhone 16 Pro Max and it’s OLED screen hasn’t been an issue. But then, I am not on my iPhone as long as I am on my iPad drawing. Gonna visit the Apple Store one more time and check out the screens again. Kinda annoying, but just wanna be sure.

I think that there’s something about Apple’s Tandem OLED that is different. It’s the only screen I’ve ever had issues with.

 

[Greenmeenie]

I think that there’s something about Apple’s Tandem OLED that is different. It’s the only screen I’ve ever had issues with.

OLED displays are notorious for not being very bright. Apple solved that by using tandem OLED panels for extra brightness. I don’t mind that they did that. It makes sense. I just wished they increased the PWM frequency to over 3,000Hz. Apple currently uses a frequency of only 480Hz in their OLED iPad Pros. That’s a lot lower than 3,000Hz! Supposedly frequencies above 3,000Hz all but eliminates the eyestrain & headache issues that most of those sensitive to low frequency PWM experience. I dunno why Apple didn’t do this on the M5 iPad Pros. 🤷‍♂️ They must have known low frequency PWM is a problem for 10-15% of people. That’s not an insignificant number. And I am sure it can’t be hard to increase the frequency. Some Chinese companies are already doing this on their OLED products. Hopefully Apple will finally do this for the M6 iPad Pro? 🙏

 

[It’s always something]

I dunno why Apple didn’t do this on the M5 iPad Pros.

Perhaps it has a significant impact on battery life 🤷‍♂️

 

[usmaak]

They must have known low frequency PWM is a problem for 10-15% of people. That’s not an insignificant number.

I don't think that Apple cares. 10-15% of people having a problem with PWM means that there are 85-90% that don't. So if they are merely playing a numbers game, a lot more sales come from that 85-90%. And there are many who either have issues with PWM and don't recognize it for what it is or do know what it is but choose to keep using the product anyway. And their biggest competitors, like Samsung, aren't doing anything different that I am aware of. Maybe if Samsung started making phones with direct dimming or very high frequency PWM, Apple might as well. But strictly as a numbers game, sticking with what they're doing makes sense.

They did add a toggle to the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max that is supposed to turn off PWM but it is largely deemed a failure.

Just my opinion/conjecture. I don't have a lot of faith in corporations to do anything that doesn't lead to them making significantly more money.

 

[AshX]

I don't think that Apple cares. 10-15% of people having a problem with PWM means that there are 85-90% that don't. So if they are merely playing a numbers game, a lot more sales come from that 85-90%. And there are many who either have issues with PWM and don't recognize it for what it is or do know what it is but choose to keep using the product anyway. And their biggest competitors, like Samsung, aren't doing anything different that I am aware of. Maybe if Samsung started making phones with direct dimming or very high frequency PWM, Apple might as well. But strictly as a numbers game, sticking with what they're doing makes sense.

They did add a toggle to the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max that is supposed to turn off PWM but it is largely deemed a failure.

Just my opinion/conjecture. I don't have a lot of faith in corporations to do anything that doesn't lead to them making significantly more money.

I’ve had conversations with Apple both at accessibility and beyond. It’s 6+ years of many, many people complaining online and to Apple directly about PWM and temporal dithering. The only thing that seems to help is people continuing to reach out to Accessibility and demanding Accessibility settings toggles to disable dithering and software + hardware changes to deal with and minimize PWM. I really don’t know what else to say to them. They are either unable to solve the problem or unwilling.

To answer OP’s questions, the 11” M5 iPad Pro was one of the worst reactions I’ve had to an Apple display. I used to use an iPad 12.9” M2 but once I updated to iPadOS 17, they changed the dithering algorithm and it bothered my eyes so I sold it.

Apple is prioritizing brightness and color over display comfort. I don’t mind that they do this, so long as accessibility settings are provided for those who need them to disable these forms of flicker.

If the iPad Air doesn’t bother you, then go with that. Some people can get used to low frequency PWM, but because of the high brightness, the modulation % of the PWM frequency of 480Hz is near 90-99% all the time which means it’s essentially strobing back at you on/off completely. That’s saying nothing of the aggressive dithering algorithm the latest OS’s are applying to render Liquid Glass’ GUI.

 

[usmaak]

I’ve had conversations with Apple both at accessibility and beyond. It’s 6+ years of many, many people complaining online and to Apple directly about PWM and temporal dithering. The only thing that seems to help is people continuing to reach out to Accessibility and demanding Accessibility settings toggles to disable dithering and software + hardware changes to deal with and minimize PWM. I really don’t know what else to say to them. They are either unable to solve the problem or unwilling.

To answer OP’s questions, the 11” M5 iPad Pro was one of the worst reactions I’ve had to an Apple display. I used to use an iPad 12.9” M2 but once I updated to iPadOS 17, they changed the dithering algorithm and it bothered my eyes so I sold it.

Apple is prioritizing brightness and color over display comfort. I don’t mind that they do this, so long as accessibility settings are provided for those who need them to disable these forms of flicker.

If the iPad Air doesn’t bother you, then go with that. Some people can get used to low frequency PWM, but because of the high brightness, the modulation % of the PWM frequency of 480Hz is near 90-99% all the time which means it’s essentially strobing back at you on/off completely. That’s saying nothing of the aggressive dithering algorithm the latest OS’s are applying to render Liquid Glass’ GUI.

I have an M3 MacBook Air and I did have to disable dithering on it. It’s pretty comfortable for long term use. But my old M1 MBP that I use for work and my M2 iPad Pro are both very comfortable. About an hour ago I accepted the fact that the M5 was not going to work for me and I put it away to take back to Best Buy tomorrow. I picked up the M2 iPad Pro and I instantly felt the difference. It’s as MUCH more comfortable.

The other thing I noticed on the M5 screen that bothered me was that text was not as clear. I think that my eyes were struggling with that as well. If felt like they kept trying to bring it into focus. It’s not that it was out of focus, just that it doesn’t seem as clear. Maybe that’s the nano glass.

 

[AshX]

I have an M3 MacBook Air and I did have to disable dithering on it. It’s pretty comfortable for long term use. But my old M1 MBP that I use for work and my M2 iPad Pro are both very comfortable. About an hour ago I accepted the fact that the M5 was not going to work for me and I put it away to take back to Best Buy tomorrow. I picked up the M2 iPad Pro and I instantly felt the difference. It’s as MUCH more comfortable.

The other thing I noticed on the M5 screen that bothered me was that text was not as clear. I think that my eyes were struggling with that as well. If felt like they kept trying to bring it into focus. It’s not that it was out of focus, just that it doesn’t seem as clear. Maybe that’s the nano glass.

The MacBook Neo (with Stillcolor disabling dithering and font smoothing disables) is the first Apple Silicon Mac I actually don’t have severe eye focusing problems with, but it’s still not quite usable long term. Still debating whether to return it.

What you’re experiencing with the M5 is likely a combination of the temporal dithering, PWM, and nano texture coating. Curious if your M1 MBP is the 13” Touchbar model or the 14”? I used to own a 14” M1 Pro and found it comfortable.

What seems to be happening is that the MacBooks, including the Air, are also utilizing hardware FRC (dithering) in addition to the GPU dithering that Stillcolor and BetterDisplay can disable. The 15” M4 MBA actually triggered a seizure during setup. That has never happened to me before. I told Apple this and the info has merely been passed along to the relevant departments. The Airs are also really unstable in terms of voltage. I can only make the Neo usable by maxing out Night Shift.

I’ve been talking with Apple and others in the field and screen sensitive communities to try to solve this. Apple has the means to disable the dithering portion system wide. It’s not that hard, they just have to have the will to do it. It doesn’t help that they’re sometimes modifying the display engine from point release to point release, and that can make a once usable device unusable. I’m actually going to go to Best Buy to compare my Neo to the Neo’s on display, assuming they’re on 26.4. That was a huge firmware update and it could potentially make the displays better, or make them a lot worse. It’s insanity.

As to why they’re going with such low PWM frequencies is beyond me. I can’t upgrade past the iPhone 13 because the huge jump in brightness just makes it nearly impossible to implement a PWM frequency that isn’t at high modulation and therefore essentially a strobe light. It’s all about benchmarks and marketing and not very much about health, it seems.

 

[Greenmeenie]

Thanks for all the feedback so far. 👍🏼 Seems like a very vocal minority are speaking up about the PWM issue. As much as I think Apple like most companies are all about the money, I can’t believe Apple won’t address this growing issue. I think they tried with the so called PWM “toggle switch” on the iPhone 17 line… so they are aware…but they’ll have to do better than that. Like several Chinese companies have already started doing, they’ll have to increase the PWM frequency above 3,000Hz. Hopefully in the M6 iPad Pros next year. And I’m curious how or if Apple will address this in the rumored OLED MacBook Pros later this year. 🤔 I’m no technician, so I don’t know if raising the PWM frequency will affect battery life or anything else. But from what I’ve read, a PWM frequency above 3,000Hz pretty much eliminates eyestrain & headaches for those sensitive to PWM. So it appears to be a relatively simple fix on paper at least.

 

[usmaak]

My MBP I use for work is the 15" M1 Max and I believe it has miniLED for the display. I can use it all day with no issues. My personal MBA is an M3. Sometimes my eyes do burn a little when using it. Early on I disabled temporal dithering and font smoothing. The funny thing is that I don't see any objective difference in picture quality when disabling these. So I'm not even sure why they're there. I haven't had to disable anything on the MBP.

I have an 17Pro and haven't noticed any issues, but I don't use it all that much and just use my iPad and MBA instead.

It sucks that I have any sensitivity because it seems like things are only going to get worse. Like all big corporations, Apple seemingly couldn't care less about the minority of users that experience issues. They seem to just treat it like an edge case. I do suspect that there are more people that experience issues than anyone knows and that they are just at a level that they don't realize how it is affecting their eyes.

If I wasn't so tied to the Apple ecosystem, I'd move on, though to what I do not know.

 

[Greenmeenie]

My MBP I use for work is the 15" M1 Max and I believe it has miniLED for the display. I can use it all day with no issues. My personal MBA is an M3. Sometimes my eyes do burn a little when using it. Early on I disabled temporal dithering and font smoothing. The funny thing is that I don't see any objective difference in picture quality when disabling these. So I'm not even sure why they're there. I haven't had to disable anything on the MBP.

I have an 17Pro and haven't noticed any issues, but I don't use it all that much and just use my iPad and MBA instead.

It sucks that I have any sensitivity because it seems like things are only going to get worse. Like all big corporations, Apple seemingly couldn't care less about the minority of users that experience issues. They seem to just treat it like an edge case. I do suspect that there are more people that experience issues than anyone knows and that they are just at a level that they don't realize how it is affecting their eyes.

If I wasn't so tied to the Apple ecosystem, I'd move on, though to what I do not know.

Well, i think more people are becoming aware of the PWM issue. It’s only been two years since the first OLED iPad Pro. For those that are sensitive but not aware, i think the more people speak up about PWM, the more these people will become aware of the source of their eyestrain & headaches. Again, Apple is aware. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have tried to address it in the iPhone 17 line. So i believe PWM is on their radar. Yes, they care about profits. What company doesn’t. PWM may affect a minority now. But it will keep growing the more OLED is used. Obviously Apple is aware. I don’t think they’ll ignore it for much longer. They tend to play the long game, but i strongly feel they will address it. Especially as more people speak out & their competition takes steps to reducing the negative affects of PWM in their products. Chinese companies are leading the way on this. I did a deep dive over the weekend on PWM, and came across tons of youtube videos in China highlighting the PWM issue. China is a huge market obviously for Apple. So if the people of China are concerned about PWM, I think there is hope to believe Apple will take this issue seriously going forward.

 

[usmaak]

Well, i think more people are becoming aware of the PWM issue. It’s only been two years since the first OLED iPad Pro. For those that are sensitive but not aware, i think the more people speak up about PWM, the more these people will become aware of the source of their eyestrain & headaches. Again, Apple is aware. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have tried to address it in the iPhone 17 line. So i believe PWM is on their radar. Yes, they care about profits. What company doesn’t. PWM may affect a minority now. But it will keep growing the more OLED is used. Obviously Apple is aware. I don’t think they’ll ignore it for much longer. They tend to play the long game, but i strongly feel they will address it. Especially as more people speak out & their competition takes steps to reducing the negative affects of PWM in their products. Chinese companies are leading the way on this. I did a deep dive over the weekend on PWM, and came across tons of youtube videos in China highlighting the PWM issue. China is a huge market obviously for Apple. So if the people of China are concerned about PWM, I think there is hope to believe Apple will take this issue seriously going forward.

I am returning the Pro M5 today and picking up an M4 Air to see how I do with it. I’ll miss Promotion but I suspect that over a short time that I’ll stop seeing it. I don’t notice it on the MBA, even after using the MBP.

I hope that you are right that Apple will work with this and fix it eventually. The PWM toggle on the iPhone 17 P/PM has been discovered to be pretty much useless. It’s an attempt, but a lame one at best. But yeah, it does prove that at some level they are aware of it.

I will submit feedback to them regarding my experiences with the M5s that I tried. I guess all of my complaining is pretty useless if it just stays here. It should really be directed at Apple.

 

[Greenmeenie]

Oh Apple knows. They watch the forums & youtube, and what their competition is doing closely. Unfortunately most of the big tech youtube channels never mention the PWM issue at all. It's almost as if they are scared of offending Apple & getting their invites to events taken away 😂

Let us know how you like the iPad Air M4 👍 I'm an artist and tested the M4 iPad Air out extensively at the Apple Store, and I gotta tell you, at least for drawing, I didn't notice a difference at all. The drawing experience btwn the 60hz of the Air & the 120hz of the Pro were identical. Seriously. Like ZERO difference. The only thing that was sort of obvious was swiping left or right from the home screen to other screens or up & down on webpages on the iPad Air. Yeah, the app icons & webpages had more of a very slight trail when scrolling. But honestly, who really cares. And you only really notice it when the devices are side by side. I'm already used to it on my iPad mini 7. And comparing 4k videos on youtube side by side btwn the two ipads was very similar. Sure, the iPad Pro was brighter, but the iPad Air looked amazing too. The main thing I liked about the iPad Pro was the 1,000 nits of brightness and the thinnness of the device. And ok, the face ID. All things being equal tho, the Air holds it’s own really well. 👍🏼

 

[usmaak]

Oh Apple knows. They watch the forums & youtube, and what their competition is doing closely. Unfortunately most of the big tech youtube channels never mention the PWM issue at all. It's almost as if they are scared of offending Apple & getting their invites to events taken away 😂

Let us know how you like the iPad Air M4 👍 I'm an artist and tested the M4 iPad Air out extensively at the Apple Store, and I gotta tell you, at least for drawing, I didn't notice a difference at all. The drawing experience btwn the 60hz of the Air & the 120hz of the Pro were identical. Seriously. Like ZERO difference. The only thing that was sort of obvious was swiping left or right from the home screen to other screens or up & down on webpages on the iPad Air. Yeah, the app icons & webpages had more of a very slight trail when scrolling. But honestly, who really cares. And you only really notice it when the devices are side by side. I'm already used to it on my iPad mini 7. And comparing 4k videos on youtube side by side btwn the two ipads was very similar. Sure, the iPad Pro was brighter, but the iPad Air looked amazing too. The main thing I liked about the iPad Pro was the 1,000 nits of brightness and the thinnness of the device. And ok, the face ID. All things being equal tho, the Air holds it’s own really well. 👍🏼

I will miss FaceID. I doubt I'll even use the fingerprint thing. I test drove an iPad Mini for a few weeks and found the fingerprint on the button to be annoying.

It's cool that all storage sizes of the Air have the same memory. I got the 1TB to try the nano glass but also for the memory. I am going to get a 256GB Air because I don't need the space. My iPad Pro M2 is 3.5 years old and I've only used ~50GB.

 

[Greenmeenie]

I will miss FaceID. I doubt I'll even use the fingerprint thing. I test drove an iPad Mini for a few weeks and found the fingerprint on the button to be annoying.

It's cool that all storage sizes of the Air have the same memory. I got the 1TB to try the nano glass but also for the memory. I am going to get a 256GB Air because I don't need the space. My iPad Pro M2 is 3.5 years old and I've only used ~50GB.

My 2018 11” iPad Pro Has 1 TB of space. I mainly got it for the 6gb of ram & future proofing. Which was the right decision in hindsight, cause after 7 years, it’s still holding up pretty well! 😂 I only used about 400gb of space in the last 7 years, so if I go with the 13” iPad Air, the max I’ll get is 500gb storage since the entire line is getting 12gb of ram no matter the storage size. If I went with the iPad Pro, I’d probably get the 1TB model again for the 16gb of ram.

 

[Meedoss]

Nope, only ever heard of PMW on here.

 

[Greenmeenie]

Nope, only ever heard of PMW on here.

Um? Only here? It’s being talked about on almost every Apple forum. Not just here. Also on Reddit & youtube. Even Apple put a PWM turn off toggle in the latest iPhones. Duh. So yeah, it’s an issue. And even Apple acknowledges that. Before Apple started using OLED in their iPhones & iPads recently, people were talking about it. Several Chinese companies are now upping the PWM frequency to mitigate the affects to those who are sensitive. I think my sensitivity is mild. But I’ve only tested the new OLED screens out briefly in the Apple Store a few times. I’m no hypochondriac. I love Apple, and as an artist, I stare at screens drawing for hours at a time every day. Not overreacting. Just joining the discussion. I may still go with the iPad Pro. My PWM sensitivity may be on the milder side. Just want to be sure. But I certainly don’t doubt those that say that it’s a major issue for them. The effects of PWM, like eye strain & headaches has been well documented. Eye Doctors talk about it online all the time. So, saying you only hear about it on Macrumors is kinda silly.

 

[usmaak]

Um? Only here? It’s being talked about on almost every Apple forum. Not just here. Also on Reddit & youtube. Even Apple put a PWM turn off toggle in the latest iPhones. Duh. So yeah, it’s an issue. And even Apple acknowledges that. Before Apple started using OLED in their iPhones & iPads recently, people were talking about it. Several Chinese companies are now upping the PWM frequency to mitigate the affects to those who are sensitive. I think my sensitivity is mild. But I’ve only tested the new OLED screens out briefly in the Apple Store a few times. I’m no hypochondriac. I love Apple, and as an artist, I stare at screens drawing for hours at a time every day. Not overreacting. Just joining the discussion. I may still go with the iPad Pro. My PWM sensitivity may be on the milder side. Just want to be sure. But I certainly don’t doubt those that say that it’s a major issue for them. The effects of PWM, like eye strain & headaches has been well documented. Eye Doctors talk about it online all the time. So, saying you only hear about it on Macrumors is kinda silly.

I first heard about PWM when I got a Samsung Galaxy S3. So 2012 sometime. It’s been a concern for a long time and well before Apple started using OLED in its phones.

And it’s not just Apple phones with the issue. Most phones that use OLED are facing similar issues. The Samsung Galaxy S25 has PWM at 480Hz. While that’s considerably better than what Apple is doing, it is still considered low enough to cause problems for some people.

The iPhone 17 Pro has PWM at 240Hz.

 

[Greenmeenie]

I first heard about PWM when I got a Samsung Galaxy S3. So 2012 sometime. It’s been a concern for a long time and well before Apple started using OLED in its phones.

Apple only started with OLED phones in 2017 and OLED ipads in 2024. But yeah, i've heard about PWM issues on Samsung products long before that like u said. PWM has never been a problem for me on my iphones. But i'm not on them drawing for hours at a time like i am on my ipad. Hence my concern. 🤔

 

[Meedoss]

Um? Only here? It’s being talked about on almost every Apple forum. Not just here. Also on Reddit & youtube. Even Apple put a PWM turn off toggle in the latest iPhones. Duh. So yeah, it’s an issue. And even Apple acknowledges that. Before Apple started using OLED in their iPhones & iPads recently, people were talking about it. Several Chinese companies are now upping the PWM frequency to mitigate the affects to those who are sensitive. I think my sensitivity is mild. But I’ve only tested the new OLED screens out briefly in the Apple Store a few times. I’m no hypochondriac. I love Apple, and as an artist, I stare at screens drawing for hours at a time every day. Not overreacting. Just joining the discussion. I may still go with the iPad Pro. My PWM sensitivity may be on the milder side. Just want to be sure. But I certainly don’t doubt those that say that it’s a major issue for them. The effects of PWM, like eye strain & headaches has been well documented. Eye Doctors talk about it online all the time. So, saying you only hear about it on Macrumors is kinda silly.

Not on reddit or watch YT rarely.
So yeah only on here, never come across someone in real life.

 

[Greenmeenie]

Not on reddit or watch YT rarely.
So yeah only on here, never come across someone in real life.

Oh wow. So just cause YOU haven’t come across someone in YOUR life, it’s not an issue? 😂 Um ok.