iPhone 3G S has yellowish tint

Thank you for posting that link, I wasn't aware of that.

I purchased an iphone two weeks ago from Sheffield in UK, and like yourselves suffered from the same yellow tint and poor contrast ratios. It took 5 seconds with the genius bar staff for them to agree and offer a refund or a replacement. So I cannot argue against their customer service, just there seriously poor quality control.

I'm going back today, to maybe participate in the iPhone lottery again!

Thats awful to be made to feel that way when you go into a shop.

I have had it it myself when I have gone into Apple for help, some have been great when helping, but I find most of them are so far up themselfs to the point I have bought their smuggness to attention. I even stood their and asked, how can you have a smug smile on your face when your knocking out the cr @p you are.

My motto is, if someone is being helpfull, let them know, just as if someone is being smug, let them know also.

Its not the fact that people have problems with their products that upsets people, its apples dumbness to to play along dumb or oh we have never heard of that. If they just had the b @lls to own up, yeah, where no perfect and nor are some of our products but we are aware of this and that and the other and working on a fix, but the fact they say nothing and act dumb and smug at the same time gets my back up.

For me, thats what makes apple a really awful company towards its customers who spend a **** of a lot of money.

Rant over, im only fed up because I had a poor experience at apple in mk on saturday when the plonker dropped my ipod and then said the damage was already on my screen.

Markie-Poo wrote:
I've been following this topic around the web for a few weeks now.

When I got my 3GS and heard about this I pulled out my old 1st gen iPhone and compared the screens. My 3GS is definitely "warmer". I recently went in to an Apple store and compared it to the display iPhones to find the same. MY 3GS was warmer than their display models.

Now I wasn't looking for an exchange, although it would have been nice, but what bothered me was the fact that I was treated like a dummy. YOU KNOW that every bleeding salesperson is up on every single issue with the 3GS. They have to be. When I showed the salesperson the difference between their display phones and mine he played dumb and went off to show my phone to someone else only to come back with the story that he just showed it to the manager and they made a comparison to the manager's phone and that the MANAGER'S iPhone was even more yellow cast than mine! He also went on to explain that the problem was that the iPhone is made in different factories and they all use different glass.

Well I suppose that certainly is possible. But that's really poor quality control. Now as I said, I wasn't really looking for a replacement. When you're looking at one screen, white is white. I can live with that. But I have come to expect much more from Mr Jobs and Apple. I expect to be treated with a certain amount of respect when I enter an Apple store. I expect NOT to be treated like a moron, encountered by a staff that denies known issues.

Perhaps in the near future I'll switch back to a Sony PC and a Blackberry.

I've done the exchange dance, and now have an iPhone without a yellow or uneven tint.

However, doing a close, as objective-as-I-can-be comparison with my old iPhone 3G, the new one just doesn't have the same "pop."

Though all the colors seem true, their saturation is lower. Blacks seem more like dark charcoal when reading text in web pages (I do a lot of this), and their contrast against white seems lower. Even to the extent that it feels like there is a faint, low-lying fog hanging over the screen.

People have commented that this is likely deliberate for the 3GS, and that my latests screen is as good as it gets for this model. Apple may have made the change intentionally (or it may be a cheaper screen component).

I've given it some time to get used to, even not turning on my 3G for days so that the new screen will seem normal. But it hasn't. I feel less excited about turning on my iPhone and flicking through a web page now.

It's as if they've dulled down the magic...

As this is now no longer a yellow tint issue, is there a discussion going on somewhere about "Why did Apple dull down the vibrant iPhone experience on us?"

Does this issue only affect the 32GB Black models? I haven't read or maybe missed posts that state people with 32GB White or any 16GB models have had this issue. My week 27 32GB Black has no yellow tint, but whites are a dirty white.

michaelbb wrote:

Even to the extent that it feels like there is a faint, low-lying fog hanging over the screen.

That perfectly sums up what my white screens look like. My co-workers 32GB White phone has a perfect display, with crisp clean whites.

Returned my week 27 phone via the manager of my local Apple store who was extremely warm and helpful towards the situation. He gave a refund and even advised it best to wait two months before buying again, suggesting that the variations between units would more than likely be resolved by then.

I appreciate early adopters often find problems - but to then find after the first quarter that everyone else who purchases is more than likely having a 'truer' display than the one you own would be a kick in the teeth too far for many.

If your in this thread the chances are your concerned about your display - better act on it before its too late! Washed out colours, poor general display, yellow tint, terrible foggy blacks (no complete black) and more.. are problems you really should be worried about if you put 'enjoyment of use' high on your list of priorities.

Message was edited by: vivarevolution

I too had the infamous 'yellow tinge' on my white 32 model and it bothered me from the first time I used it. My friend bought one the day after and had the exact same issue, though it didn't bug him at all. I took mine to Apple and after having a genius look at the screen he offered me a replacement.

After walking out of the store that night, I noticed that the blacks weren't very... black, but more gray. Kinda disappointing since the iPhone is marketed as a multi-media device, but I learned to live with it. Better this than a wee-stained screen, right?

Three days in however, a spec of dust, about the size of two pixels found itself on the inside of my screen. I went back and saw the same genuis, who promptly replaced the unit. Great! back in the iPhone lottery. The genius pulled out the replacement and asked me to look over the screen to check if its ok. This one had even worse blacks! After notifying him of this, he replaced it again! (top guy) The next one still had poor blacks, but at least it was white and dust free which is fine with me. Ill give apple's support an A+ but I'm afraid manufacturing and QC has much to live up to.

Why, Apple, can't you just make a screen that has as good contrast as my sister's $200 LG phone. The iPhone's screen looks like rubbish next to it! Will it cost that much more?

I'm convinced that the techs in charge of the screen were far too busy getting high during the product development life-cycle rather than researching high quality screen manufacturers.

I have a white 32GB. And the black on my screen is also grey.

In direct comparison to the 3G (which has a good black) the 3GS is a shame for Apple.

The contrast is definitely lower than on the old 3G.

The sad thing about all of this is it would be a non-issue if there were settings for White Balance, Contrast, and Color. Since the phone is running a trimmed down version of OSX, I don't see why it would be that hard to implement.

Thats a good questions, I'm thinking hardware, as when I took mine back to the store, the Genius staff, took one look at it and said it was "Defective", and refunded.

They never linked it up to a mac to try and alter the software settings.

Also all the iPhones come with the same software settings, so it doesn't answer why some have colour variations and some are perfect. It has to be the screen itself.

Thats my opinion.

I believe mine has a back light issue. Mine has NO hint of yellow, but is just not as bright as some of my friends. I have to put my back light at 100% to match theirs at approximately 50-60%. My colors seem to accurate, just not the brightness.

I'm going to go to the Apple store to compare brightness settings on some of the floor models and see if the issue with back lighting not being as strong as the culprit.

I have the white 3gs and it is definitely much cooler tinted than my black 3g. But I personally don't like it... At all. The colors look washed and faded compared to my 3g. Any warmer than the 3g tho, and I probably wouldn't like it. Did they allow you to get it replaced at the apple store?

Just got back from Best Buy. My brother swapped his 32gb Black 3GS for a new one. Out of the box, the new one has a major issue - see below..





They swapped it again right there. Can't believe that passed inspection/QC. The new new one was perfect. Screen is bright, crisp and clean. I want to say it is 98% identical to the one I have. So I did not swap mine. We are currently draining the batteries and going to do a full charge and use them and see how they hold up. If they are the same were good.. if there is a substantial difference between the two, there might be a problem. However, I don't anticipate any further issues.

His is a week 27 phone.

Hi guys. I have been following this thread since june 19, the day the thread was created and the day the 3gs dropped. I had ordered mine on june 8th and recieved my first 3gs on june 19. I opened my new device, activated and synced it an let it charge. In the mean time i thought i would compare the 3g to the 3gs. First thing i noticed was the yellow screen. I showed my gf and she said it looked as if someone had ****** all over the backlight. Nice!!! Ironically we had had a conversation earlier in the day about how i should wait till all the kinks are worked out of the phone. Well. Having not listened to myself and now having a **** yellow screen, i took to google to see if anyone else was having this problem. Surley enough i found this post. To say the least i was scared maybe i was making a big deal over nothing but this seemed to b a real problem. People were on their third replacement a week later and most were getting the same yellow hue with all the replacements. So as i was flashing back to the horrible customer service at the freehold nj apple store, i decided to just call apple and return the phone cause eventually i would get a refurb. So to save the hastle i returned it and ordered a new one on july 1. Well. Its now the 13th and my brand new black 32 gb black iphone is here. (originally 32 gig black week 23 unit). First thing i noticed on the box was a little green dot. So to google. From what i gathered it was not unlike the dot on the charger last year. Apperently small hardware changes had been made and they signify that by the green dot. Also my original shipped from the us, this one from china. Well, my point. This model is perfect. Better screen than the 3g and i finally feel that i have gotten my 500 dollars worth of phone. If you have a yellow screen. DO NOT SETTLE. THIS IS NOT NORMAL.

Sp1d3rz said:
"First thing i noticed on the box was a little green dot. So to google. From what i gathered it was not unlike the dot on the charger last year. Apperently small hardware changes had been made and they signify that by the green dot. Also my original shipped from the us, this one from china."

My first 3GS (16 gig black) was ordered on June 8, shipped from China and delivered on launch day. It was serial number xxx21. The box (I still have) has a green dot sicker on the backside bottom right just above the recycle symbol. The screen on this phone was yellow.

Buried deep in this thread is a comment I made about the yellow screen not being an issue for me. However, I compared my screen to 3G models and an iPhone Classic, and decided to have a Genius look at it. He replaced my 3GS (June 23) with a white box replacement, stating the replacement was brand new.

My 2nd 3GS is serial number xxx24. The screen on my replacement is not yellow like the first and as far as I can tell the colors are not washed out like others have described (I have black not charcoal font). In natural light, on a screen with white background, there is subtle off-white at the bottom 1/2" or so (you really have to go looking for it). In department or Apple store lighting the subtle 1/2" off-white does not exit, only in certain conditions.

I re-compared my second phone to the devices I compared the first phone to. The whites on mine looked more true to white than some of theirs, which looked blue or pink in some cases.

The Apple Store Concierge, Manager and Genius were really helpful the day they made the swap.