Buyers complain of burn-in on iPhone 15 Pro Max display

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited October 2023

An unknown number of iPhone 15 Pro Max owners are finding the image of home screen apps being burnt-in to the display, but the issue doesn't appear to be any worse than any other year.

Burn-in seen on an iPhone 15 Pro Max (source:
Burn-in seen on an iPhone 15 Pro Max (source: "Surfphysics" on Apple Support discussion)



Burn-in may be best known from the old days of CRT screens, but it has been an issue with OLED displays. In any case, burn-in is typically something that typically happens after a very long time with the same images being shown on the screen.

Now, however, a month after the iPhone 15 range went on sale, users of the iPhone 15 Pro Max are reporting issues on Reddit and in Apple's support forums, as first spotted by iMore. It's not a widespread problem, and it's not known whether it also affects the iPhone 15 Pro.

"Most cases of burn-in in televisions is a result of static images or on-screen elements displaying on the screen uninterrupted for many hours or days at a time - with brightness typically at peak levels," OLED manufacturer LG says, "So, it is possible to create image retention in almost any display if one really tries hard enough."

AppleInsider has been collecting data from many sources across Apple's service chain since 2015. From that data, so far, the absolute number of OLED burn-in reports from Apple Service data in mid-October year-over-year is less than it has been for the last three years. This could be attributed to different release timings, but ultimately, there is not a statistically significant deviance of failures.

That doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't a problem, and that data is cold-comfort to anyone suffering from the issue. As with any of these reports on social media of problems, AppleInsider recommends getting any issue documented with Apple. The company does not respond to social media complaints, and will only take action with data from its service chain.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    cubeovercubeover Posts: 16member
    With 2400 nits brightness, someone must have left it on for a week to be able to report this.
    Or perhaps beach and phone competing with the sun don’t mix well.
    jahbladeradarthekatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 12
    killroykillroy Posts: 290member
    This may or may not help.

    Or this.




    edited October 2023 chasmAlex1Nwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 12
    ralphieralphie Posts: 129member
    “Only affects small number of users”
    williamlondon
  • Reply 4 of 12
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,654member
    I see a *lot* of users who have their screen set WAY too bright AND appear to have turned off display sleep entirely, sticking this giant expensive glow stick back into their pocket or bag with nary a thought.

    One fellow stuck his phone (screen still on) in his back pocket on a walk I was also on. I was behind him for 15 minutes and his screen was visible from a block away the entire time. This will, of course, also happen to Android users who override the default screen dimming settings.
    appleinsideruserAlex1Njas99killroywatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 12
    JFC_PAJFC_PA Posts: 951member
    I’d expect a display timer set to “never” plus max brightness would lead to that. Physics just rules. 
    Alex1Njas99killroywatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 12
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 4,063member
    JFC_PA said:
    I’d expect a display timer set to “never” plus max brightness would lead to that. Physics just rules. 
    chasm said:
    I see a *lot* of users who have their screen set WAY too bright AND appear to have turned off display sleep entirely, sticking this giant expensive glow stick back into their pocket or bag with nary a thought.

    One fellow stuck his phone (screen still on) in his back pocket on a walk I was also on. I was behind him for 15 minutes and his screen was visible from a block away the entire time. This will, of course, also happen to Android users who override the default screen dimming settings.

    This may be but I’d expect users aren’t suddenly changing their use patterns from what they did prior. Unless they have, the question remains: Why are iPhone 15’s suddenly having problems?
    baconstanggatorguy
  • Reply 7 of 12
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,480member
    OLED displays have two big weaknesses longevity and burn-in I think they’re big ones but a lot of people simply don’t care as long as those blacks are blacker than black. Just remember those old lcd cinema displays that Apple use the nearly 2000, many of them are still kicking. The crying about the cost was the same back then too.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c3_D8tt14s   Cinema display 
    baconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 12
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,340member
    danox said:
    OLED displays have two big weaknesses longevity and burn-in I think they’re big ones but a lot of people simply don’t care as long as those blacks are blacker than black. Just remember those old lcd cinema displays that Apple use the nearly 2000, many of them are still kicking. The crying about the cost was the same back then too.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c3_D8tt14s   Cinema display 
    Mine is still going strong….it just refuses to die.
    killroywatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 12
    baconstangbaconstang Posts: 1,162member
    It's not like it's regular old burn-in. It's PRO burn-in!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 12
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,337member
    Coup,d this be related to how people are using the new Standby feature? Max brightness, no dimming. All night
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 12
    JFC_PAJFC_PA Posts: 951member
    Bottom line:

    ” AppleInsider has been collecting data from many sources across Apple's service chain since 2015. From that data, so far, the absolute number of OLED burn-in reports from Apple Service data in mid-October year-over-year is less than it has been for the last three years. This could be attributed to different release timings, but ultimately, there is not a statistically significant deviance of failures.”

    At the moment there’s no there there. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 12
    longfanglongfang Posts: 522member
    MplsP said:
    JFC_PA said:
    I’d expect a display timer set to “never” plus max brightness would lead to that. Physics just rules. 
    chasm said:
    I see a *lot* of users who have their screen set WAY too bright AND appear to have turned off display sleep entirely, sticking this giant expensive glow stick back into their pocket or bag with nary a thought.

    One fellow stuck his phone (screen still on) in his back pocket on a walk I was also on. I was behind him for 15 minutes and his screen was visible from a block away the entire time. This will, of course, also happen to Android users who override the default screen dimming settings.

    This may be but I’d expect users aren’t suddenly changing their use patterns from what they did prior. Unless they have, the question remains: Why are iPhone 15’s suddenly having problems?
    They aren’t, but it sure does make for a nice headline to compete against whatever is on the news cycle atm. 
    killroywatto_cobra
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