It doesn't work. Changing the hue of a yellow screen makes the phone "cooler" but ****s up other colours. I tried it and it bothered me so much I had to resort back to the default setting.
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.
Yellow-gate? ;)
- Thread starter Geert76
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
It doesn't work. Changing the hue of a yellow screen makes the phone "cooler" but ****s up other colours. I tried it and it bothered me so much I had to resort back to the default setting.
Another person given a story at the Genius Bar to move a customer along so they can get to the next one in the hopper.
I showed show floor workers at Apple the difference with the display versus the ip 6s. They could not care less.
When Apple says its 25% brighter...they most likely mean in auto brightness mode. Which is quite possible.
The Note 7 has a display that can reach over 1000 nits. Only in auto though. In manual mode, it's around 800 nits.
No doubt, this is where they get the 25% brighter claim. And since it would only reach max brightness in Auto mode, that means you'd have to be in a very bright place to begin with. And then it would be very difficult to compare to other devices.
Yes, I have noticed in the comparison pictures (I'm a photographer as well) that the 7's screen's my eyes are drawn to and look much, much more natural.
Yeah same here. It makes sense but I looked at the specs as well and it doesn't have true tone listed. Also on the 9.7 inch iPad Pro, you are able to toggle the true tone on and off. I'm just gonna compare my phone to other 7 Plus models at my appointment next Tuesday and hopefully they won't think I'm crazy.
Good morning everyone, or in the case of our friends around the world, good afternoon or good evening. I would like to offer my perspective on this. Of course it's ok to disagree, but give this some honest thought. And yes, it is long, but I want to offer up a perspective that may help others.
My background: I am a full-time professional photographer that specializes in action sports, wildlife, and adventure-lifestyle photography. I travel around the world on commercial assignments every month. I am not the all-knowing authority or proclaiming that I am right at all costs, but keep in mind that color management and a deep understanding of the light spectrum is rooted in what I do for a living.
Here are some random things to take into consideration when evaluating the display:
The iPhone 7/7+ has a far more accurate color space than any other smartphone on the market today. It is supposed to be calibrated to the same standards as the cinema industry and to achieve this, the kelvin temperature has to be calibrated to a warmer temperature than what most people are accustomed to. For the uninitiated, a warmer display (or lower kelvin temperature) tends to look more yellow, whereas a cooler display (or higher kelvin temperature) tends to look for blue and more bright.
A good majority of pictures I've seen here and in other threads are nothing more than a warmer screen when compared to their iPhone 6/6s series phone. In the majority of cases, this is normal. I'm not saying that every phone is perfect or there are zero issues out there. What I'm saying here is many people are panicking or worrying unnecessarily just because their phone appears to be warmer, when in fact, there display is just as it should be.
Be very cautious when evaluating pictures on the internet. Here's why: unless you manually set the white balance (on the camera you're taking a picture with), every camera in the world will automatically determine what it thinks the white balance in the photograph should be. You would be shocked at how often auto white balance is off and can skew the colors you are looking at in a photograph. Believe me, I know this and deal with it every single day. Neither of my $6,000 camera bodies are white balance and color accurate every time. I am always tweaking the white balance in post-production to align with a calibrated white balance and color-calibration target. I can take a picture of your phone right now and tweak it to look any shade of yellow or blue that I want. I'm not saying that anyone here in intentionally doing that, but I can guarantee you that your camera is.
To take this even further, the light your viewing your iPhone with plays a large role too. Are you evaluating your phone in a room with light bulbs at 2800 kelvin, 3500 kelvin, or 5000 kelvin? Are you in the sun or the shade? So many different factors play into this and will change the apparent look of your display. (And this further tricks the camera when it is taking a picture with auto white balance.)
Now let's look at unevenness or blotchiness. That is not normal. However, there are two camps in this thread that strongly disagree with each other on how glue may or may not effect the display in the very beginning of the phone's life. Setting aside the differences of opinion on glue, let me offer this: does it hurt to give it a week and see if things change? In many cases, most people can't get a replacement that fast anyway. And besides, Apple is not going to abandon you at the 10-day point or even the 3-month point. Give it a few days and see what happens.
It is also very important to give your eyes a few days to adjust to the new display that is warmer than what you are accustomed to. More so than any potential or possible glue issue, it's most often your eyes/human brain that need to adjust.
If your phone continues to have a blotchy or uneven color uniformity, by all means, definitely get it replaced! No manufacturer in the world produces a perfect product every single time. Ferrari, Hasselblad, Apple, Rolex...they all have the occasional defect that comes off the line. The difference with the companies I listed is it does not happen as often as the industry average. Nor does it happen as often as an internet forum would leave you to believe.
And that is why I'm investing so much time in hanging out here and typing this out. Humbly-spoken, I am deeply involved with this subject matter because it is a huge facet of my job and it pains me to see the mis-understandings that often take place or mis-information that might be unintentionally spread around. So that is my perspective. All I ask is that you consider these things when you're evaluating how your iPhone's display works. And by all means, if its bad, hop on up and get yourself a new one!
Happy to answer any questions people have and best wishes...
You have absolutely no idea if the 7 is supposed to be warmer, and neither does anyone else. We have examples of yellow/warm 7's and they look exactly like the yellow phones every year.
We also have many examples of non yellow 7s that look exactly like last years 6s. For some reason you are convinced the yellow 7s are the true manifestation of apples desires even though they match all other years AND we have blue tinted 7s all over including on display models. Saying "its supposed to be warmer" has no basis whatsoever in fact nor does it match what we are actually seeing in the market. We dont know what displaymates phone looked like. It could have looked exactly like a 6s, the measured k was barely different. Definitely not enough to look yellow.
If you are still committed to your theory then i expect you to forfeit any clear screen (non warm) iphone 7s you may get and exchange for the "more correct" yellow screen versions. But dont stop there Bryan. You can literally exchange any idevice you've purchased in the last 7 years for a yellow screen version. This isnt new or intentional you can find the exact same piss yellow warmth you crave for any iphone or ipad in the last 7 years. Keeping a cooler tinted display goes against your philosophy. I wish you good luck in your hunt to find all the yellow screen warm idevices your heart desires.
Last edited:
The Apple employee said that the true tone is meant to be easier on the eyes so maybe that's why it seems less bright. Also I've been reading reports such as the one from DisplayMate that states when auto-brightness is off, you can manually adjust the brightness to 600 nits max. However when auto-brightness is enabled, depending on the environment, the phone can hit 700 nits. Which is where I think the 25% brighter comes into play. Wish we could get an official statement from Apple.
Thanks -- I'm anxious to get my iPhones too so I can do an actual in-depth comparison. I have a T-Mo 7 128 GB Silver and a T-Mo 7+ 128 GB Black on order. They'll get here one day, hopefully sooner than later!
It's hard to say if the new ones that appear to be more blue actually are cooler...it is almost always subjective unless you use a tristimulus colorimater. But I get your concern and understand where you're coming from. It can be confusing and certainly frustrating. One of the objectives in my post was to at least get people to not automatically dismiss their iPhone just because it is yellow compared to what they are used to or what they are seeing in a pic taken with some other phone in unknown lighting conditions.
More to come.
Thank you for posting this. It's nice to read a rational, well thought out post with a good explanation from someone who knows about the subject and deals with it everyday.Good morning everyone, or in the case of our friends around the world, good afternoon or good evening. I would like to offer my perspective on this. Of course it's ok to disagree, but give this some honest thought. And yes, it is long, but I want to offer up a perspective that may help others.
My background: I am a full-time professional photographer that specializes in action sports, wildlife, and adventure-lifestyle photography. I travel around the world on commercial assignments every month. I am not the all-knowing authority or proclaiming that I am right at all costs, but keep in mind that color management and a deep understanding of the light spectrum is rooted in what I do for a living.
Here are some random things to take into consideration when evaluating the display:
The iPhone 7/7+ has a far more accurate color space than any other smartphone on the market today. It is supposed to be calibrated to the same standards as the cinema industry and to achieve this, the kelvin temperature has to be calibrated to a warmer temperature than what most people are accustomed to. For the uninitiated, a warmer display (or lower kelvin temperature) tends to look more yellow, whereas a cooler display (or higher kelvin temperature) tends to look for blue and more bright.
A good majority of pictures I've seen here and in other threads are nothing more than a warmer screen when compared to their iPhone 6/6s series phone. In the majority of cases, this is normal. I'm not saying that every phone is perfect or there are zero issues out there. What I'm saying here is many people are panicking or worrying unnecessarily just because their phone appears to be warmer, when in fact, there display is just as it should be.
Be very cautious when evaluating pictures on the internet. Here's why: unless you manually set the white balance (on the camera you're taking a picture with), every camera in the world will automatically determine what it thinks the white balance in the photograph should be. You would be shocked at how often auto white balance is off and can skew the colors you are looking at in a photograph. Believe me, I know this and deal with it every single day. Neither of my $6,000 camera bodies are white balance and color accurate every time. I am always tweaking the white balance in post-production to align with a calibrated white balance and color-calibration target. I can take a picture of your phone right now and tweak it to look any shade of yellow or blue that I want. I'm not saying that anyone here in intentionally doing that, but I can guarantee you that your camera is.
To take this even further, the light your viewing your iPhone with plays a large role too. Are you evaluating your phone in a room with light bulbs at 2800 kelvin, 3500 kelvin, or 5000 kelvin? Are you in the sun or the shade? So many different factors play into this and will change the apparent look of your display. (And this further tricks the camera when it is taking a picture with auto white balance.)
Now let's look at unevenness or blotchiness. That is not normal. However, there are two camps in this thread that strongly disagree with each other on how glue may or may not effect the display in the very beginning of the phone's life. Setting aside the differences of opinion on glue, let me offer this: does it hurt to give it a week and see if things change? In many cases, most people can't get a replacement that fast anyway. And besides, Apple is not going to abandon you at the 10-day point or even the 3-month point. Give it a few days and see what happens.
It is also very important to give your eyes a few days to adjust to the new display that is warmer than what you are accustomed to. More so than any potential or possible glue issue, it's most often your eyes/human brain that need to adjust.
If your phone continues to have a blotchy or uneven color uniformity, by all means, definitely get it replaced! No manufacturer in the world produces a perfect product every single time. Ferrari, Hasselblad, Apple, Rolex...they all have the occasional defect that comes off the line. The difference with the companies I listed is it does not happen as often as the industry average. Nor does it happen as often as an internet forum would leave you to believe.
And that is why I'm investing so much time in hanging out here and typing this out. Humbly-spoken, I am deeply involved with this subject matter because it is a huge facet of my job and it pains me to see the mis-understandings that often take place or mis-information that might be unintentionally spread around. So that is my perspective. All I ask is that you consider these things when you're evaluating how your iPhone's display works. And by all means, if its bad, hop on up and get yourself a new one!
Happy to answer any questions people have and best wishes...
I received an iPhone 7 on launch day and unfortunately my display is also off. I am seeing a couple of things, first my display is of a warmer tone, which I undertand may or may not be intentional. However, the bottom 1/4 of my screen is of an even different tone. As others have mentioned, it's like half the keyboard keys are yellow and half are not.
Additionally, my display is very dim. I never had my brightness slider higher than 50% on previous models. With this phone I have it regularly at 75% or greater. Last night I was in my backyard at dusk, in the shade and the brightness slider was pegged at max (from auto brightness). The display certainly did not appear overly bright. Further, the back of the device was hot to the touch.
I don't live close to an Apple Store so I called into Apple Care and they are sending me a replacement. Fingers crossed. I'm familiar with these "yellow screen" issues, but haven't personally had one since the iPhone 5s. Three iPhone 6 and one iPhone 6s in my family and none had a yellow tint to them. I had thought this was a thing of the past until we got the iPhone 7. My wife's iPhone 7 also looks yellow, but she said she will live with it.
Additionally, my display is very dim. I never had my brightness slider higher than 50% on previous models. With this phone I have it regularly at 75% or greater. Last night I was in my backyard at dusk, in the shade and the brightness slider was pegged at max (from auto brightness). The display certainly did not appear overly bright. Further, the back of the device was hot to the touch.
I don't live close to an Apple Store so I called into Apple Care and they are sending me a replacement. Fingers crossed. I'm familiar with these "yellow screen" issues, but haven't personally had one since the iPhone 5s. Three iPhone 6 and one iPhone 6s in my family and none had a yellow tint to them. I had thought this was a thing of the past until we got the iPhone 7. My wife's iPhone 7 also looks yellow, but she said she will live with it.
Regarding all the comments about the Display Mate testing, it is VERY reasonable that they received a cherry picked device with a more neutral screen vs overly yellow for the review. It happens all the time with reviewers. Take computer graphics cards. Cherry picked. The reviews achieve higher overclocks than the regular folks more often than not. Monitors- very seldom do I see reviewers stating the ugly truth about backlight bleed or poor uniformity. Their sample monitors for review are perfect. MacBook Pro- with the early 2015 retina MBP the yellow screen issue was rampant. All of the stores displayed models with the better, more neutral screen made from one manufacturer.
I agree the screens that are warmer are more accurate. BUT, piss yellow is NOT accurate. You CAN'T calibrate it out (on the iPhone) as others have said, it will throw off the rest of the color in some shape or form. If your software adjusted piss yellow screen looks good to you, awesome, enjoy it. In the end that's all that matters.
I agree the screens that are warmer are more accurate. BUT, piss yellow is NOT accurate. You CAN'T calibrate it out (on the iPhone) as others have said, it will throw off the rest of the color in some shape or form. If your software adjusted piss yellow screen looks good to you, awesome, enjoy it. In the end that's all that matters.
Last edited:
Yes we do. The iPhone screen is a DCI-P3 screen. P3 color gamut is calibrated to the true white point of D65 which is at 6500K , which is a warm white point. That is fact. And fact is also that the screens of the 6/6s series are calibrated at around 7300K. If you compare the Kelvin calibration, a higher number indicates a cooler more blueish white point, while a lower number is warmer more yellowish.
You can try this on your Mac under display settings and color calibration. You can play with the Kelvin slider and see that your temperature changes from blue to yellow.
yellowgate, in no way is coming to any phone near me. crazy if you think it's normal, acceptable, ok.
kre62,
Last night you decided you were finished with this discussion, but I see you're back. Cool, it's awesome to gather ideas. What's not awesome is your continued snide remarks and the "demands" that you somehow pull out of a hat. I'm not here to live up to any of your expectations on what something should or shouldn't be.
Put on your big boy pants and be a productive part of the conversation instead of being so abrasive.
So how do you explain people getting phones that exactly match their iphone 6s? Are those defects? No one seems to want to answer that question.
Also earlier a poster posted his clear looking phone against his 6500k monitor. Looked perfect. So being close to 6500k doesnt explain the piss yellow screen. The good screen with the good characteristicts and good backlighting can still be close to 6500k.
You are not interested in going to a t-mobile or Apple Store in advance to check out the display models before you receive the iPhones you have ordered? You can bring along your 6s unless you don't have it any longer or just use the one that is on display at those places.
Its because you cant answer my questions Bryan and then you go right back to the same falsehoods youve been spreading. Ive challenged you to think critically a few times and you refuse to do so. Instead you are hell bent on misleading this community. I and many others have produced mountains of evidence to support the two panel theory. Instead of evaluating it you just say "supposed to be warm" like a robot over and over. And then you try to position yourself as some sort of expert - apparently an expert in a field where facts are inconvienient.
I cannot but I have not seen an iPhone 7 matching a 6s yet at stores or in the wild.
I want to see one in person, not pictures. And any person just looking at their new ip 7 without doing a comparison versus the 6s cannot be sure. It happened to me initially, the ip 7 looked good until I compared them. And the more I used my ip 7 afterwards, the more it became a distraction and made me disgruntled.
I'm interested and will certainly take a look next time I'm near a store, but I'm not really going out of my way because of two reasons:
a) I'm preparing to leave next week on a 3-week assignment and am limited on time
b) I cannot test the display models in the store with a colorimeter
Seeing it in the store and measuring with the naked eye is only a ballpark, unless a display is grossly off in its calibration.
Fair. I ensure you they exist. Ive seem them myself and many others have posted pics of their 7s matching their 6s phones. You can argue camera and white point all you want but if the two screens match in the picture then to me its settled.
No what I said was that if you compare your iPhone 7 screen with your iPhone 6s screen it always appears more yellowish, because the iPhone 6s screen is more blueish. That's because they are calibrated at different white temperatures.
That's why, if you want to control the correct temperature of your screen, you should compare it to a calibrated screen that also has the white point set at 6500K.
Only when you compare it to such a screen you can accurately say that your screen is too yellow or has the right white point. If you compare it to your 6s screen -which doesn't has the correct white point- it will always appear more yellow. In fact if your screen looks exactly like the 6s screen at whites, chances are, it is not correctly calibrated to the right white point.
If you want to examine if your phone has the correct white point you don't compare it to a screen which has an improper white point.
Last edited:
My gosh, you sure are an angry person. I think I've explained myself pretty well. I consider myself to be pretty educated on the subject of color and white balance as it relates to displays, but as I said before, I'm not the all-knowing expert. I'm just doing my best to provide some relevant info to something people are concerned about.
I hope your outlook can improve and you can cheer up. Life is a lot more enjoyable that way.
That guy is something else, lol. Perhaps, there is another issue other than the phone.
I have returned my 128/verizon I posted next to my other 7 in this post:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/yellow-gate.1996889/page-18#post-23538569
The off-axis waviness was INTENSELY obvious and perhaps the most annoying thing, beyond even a dimmer screen and warmer one (and the bottom seemed less warm than my 7/att but not worth it for the other things, and it was generally warmer looking)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/yellow-gate.1996889/page-18#post-23538569
The off-axis waviness was INTENSELY obvious and perhaps the most annoying thing, beyond even a dimmer screen and warmer one (and the bottom seemed less warm than my 7/att but not worth it for the other things, and it was generally warmer looking)
- Status