iPhone 3G S has yellowish tint

AntonioMX5 wrote:

kooredaan wrote:
My wife - whose 3Gs is fine - has said she'll just switch our two phones since she doesn't mind, but I find that unacceptable.

Lucky man (although exchanging I agree with is the best route). My wife normally doesn't care about Blu-Ray quality or Home Theater quality surround sound. So with regard to my 3G S screen, I figured she wouldn't be able to tell the difference or care that mine have either been too yellow or washed out with poor contrast.

So guess what she said when I asked her if she wouldn't mind swapping 3G S's? She told me, and I quote, "No way in **** would I take that crap screen - go exchange it." (Gives you an idea how crummy these screens can be).

You bring up a good point, about getting "flagged". I worried about this as well. But I figure, it's our right to return a phone for any reason whatsoever, and no guilt when we're doing it because it's DEFECTIVE. Also, Apple surely wants us to purchase their product and to be happy with it so we'll shut up on these forums. And your idea to try a different store sounds very wise in order to sample a different batch as well as to avoid exchanging too often at one given store. I'll try this as well - thank you for the idea!

Thanks. 😀 And no problem.

I went to a different store. The non-genius guy looked at the screen closely. I'm not sure he saw what I saw, but eventually he replaced it with a new phone.

Though he did try to get me to go the white box route. He also said since I've exchanged it three times, I'd have go to go through the genius bar route from now on. Hmmm. We'll see.

He also went on to say, "The guys in the back said the phone/screen is within spec." But at the end he still switched it.

I haven't decided if it is better, so that means it must be better. Previous yellow was more distinguisable. My wife and I still see a yellowish hue, but it does seem better than the previous two phones I had - though the 1st phone with the battery issues might have had the best screen.

I'll give it a whirl for a few days and decide at the end.

But yes they are starting to say, "It's within specs" - even non genius bar people.

cepth, Congrats on getting a good 3G S screen on your first try!

If you don't mind, would you please share with us the first two numbers of your 3G S's serial number? Those first two numbers are supposed to correlate with which factory it was made at, according to this website: http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

I don't know what the dude that said it's "warmer" is smoking but that's nonsense. I don't have that problem. For this issue I'd suggest an Apple Store for a Mac Genius to take a look at it.

If you don't have one available, restore and set it as new. Be sure to sync your information to your computer.

I just got back from replacing my week 25 32GB black phone. Colors were not popping and the screen seemed washed out. It was "cooler" than any phone I have had and for that, did not want to swap it out and risk getting a dud.

However, I swapped it out and now have a week 28. Factory 87 China. Screen is more vibrant and not washed out. It seems crisper too. The screen is also warmer, but not yellow. I am happy with the screen. I think Apple can release an update to improve the color temperature of the screens later on. That's as long as it's not a hardware defect.

I just went to my local apple store and compared the demo iphon 3g s and it had same yellow tint as mine. I told an associate about my issue and she said my phone is within spec and that it is supposed to look yellow. when I pointed out that my screen only looks yellow from right and top meaning landscape is yellow she said I should get an appointment.

Got my iPhone 3Gs (week 26) replaced with a week 28 one as I had other issues with it as well. The screen had really bad yellow tint. The screen on the replacement is much better but has very little yellow tint. I can live with it though.

I have a pretty good iPhone. I still think the brightness can be higher - but hopefully an update can fix that. I can still see a yellow tinge, but it is a lot better than by two previous.

At this point I'll probably keep it as is, but I'll see how the rest of the week goes.

For info purpose:

Production week: 29 (July)
Production number: 36752 (within this week)
Factory: 88 (Shenzhen, China)

I should have looked at my previous ones, but I didn't. 😟

Thanks so much for this info Kooredaan. You're the first I've seen to get a week 29 - perhaps things are improving.

Others who had factory 88 models had some bad luck so we know bad screens can come out of that factory. IIRC, the only one I've read that had a Factory 87 model said the screen was good.

So going on this extremely limited info, it appears that we might have better luck with week 29+ and/or Factory 87 phones. With more input from others, we can see if this is a valid trend or not...

I don't like this "within spec" business. How yellow does it have to be to be "out of spec?"

My original - before replacement - was very unpleasantly yellow, what some would called "pee-stained." It was unpleasant to look at, although the screen itself was of course usable and readable. Surely this wouldn't be considered within spec?

Very disappointed Apple has come to the point of supplying a sub-optimal product and then refusing to do anything about it.

I really hope that 5.2 million iPhone sales figure hasn't made them "take it or leave it" arrogant.

michaelbb wrote:
I really hope that 5.2 million iPhone sales figure hasn't made them "take it or leave it" arrogant.

I also fear this is what Apple has become. Apple is doing VERY well at the moment, and even beat analyst's expectations for the 3rd Quarter, despite the global recession, as seen in this article: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Apple-3Q-beats-forecasts-apf-1693244157.html?x=0

One special item of interest mentioned in the article: +"*Apple said component costs weren't as high as anticipated*..."+

I have an idea where Apple cut costs on components, and I'm staring at one example of this on the front face of my 3G S right now. How nice cutting corners like this helped Apple's bottom line. I bet they laugh about this forum every time they make a deposit in the bank. I sure hope I'm wrong and quality has been improved, quietly and secretly behind the scenes. We'll see with more posts...

Hi everyone..

just compared my new 3gs (week 26) to a friends (week 28) and mine definitely has a yelloish tint... especially towards the bottom in daylight (not under artificial light)

Can we create a summary of problem factories and weeks (if possible) and also symptomes - (for instance mine is easier to see in natural daylight).

Also I wouldnt say my colours are "washed out" just there isnt as high contrast...

AntonioMX5 wrote:
cepth, Congrats on getting a good 3G S screen on your first try!

If you don't mind, would you please share with us the first two numbers of your 3G S's serial number? Those first two numbers are supposed to correlate with which factory it was made at, according to this website: http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

Factory 83 Week 28.

For what it's worth, I went through the process of trying to exchange my week 27 3GS, which was notably more yellow and washed out than the floor models in the store and the 3G model. I ordered it at an AT&T store (no Apple store within 2 hours) and would have to wait another 3-5 days for a replacement so I went through Apple Tech Support.

The first technician had me email pictures of the phone to him, comparing 3G to 3GS. The difference was obvious and he was supposed to send them on to their "engineers". Needless to say, I didn't hear a word. I called back and got another technician who updated my case notes and that was about it. The third technician sent me a replacement iPhone (for $30) of the same type. It was a week 28 phone and it was worse than the 27 week phone.

Granted, I don't have uneven yellowing, but this is still a huge quality issue. I sent back the week 28 phone and am resigned for the time being that the week 27 is the best Apple is going to do.

The excuses I heard ranged somewhere in the following:

1) This is the first I've heard about a "yellow tint" (most popular)
2) The screen is supposed to be warmer (doesn't explain the floor models looking great)
3) It could be the manufacturer (that's comforting)

What a mess.

Message was edited by: ebip3gs

Well I am going to the apple store tomorrow. Here are the issues with my 10 day old 3gs. Half the screen has the yellow tint. The bottom half. The location feature on the googlemaps puts my current location in some other state. The 3g is worthless for voice calls. Can't even use it. 3g for data is unusable as well. While sitting in the same spot, with my hands off the phone, it will jump from full bars of 3g, to 0 to edge, and them back and forth with the same pattern. Did this for 10 min yesterday. My phone will not ring if I am on on the web or emails. On 3g or edge. The edge calls are dropping like flies. NEVER happened with my 2g iphone. When turning on the phone from the locked screen mode, the backlight does not come on all the time. Have to lock it, then unlock again to get it to work. The thing gets horrible battery life. Had I not already sold my orig iphone, I would ditch this thing and go back to the old. What a big dissapointment. Hopefully, the apple store will be able to help me out. And I am not interested in doing countless restores, resets with them either. I have done that too many times for it to make a dif.

Got an in store screen replacement...It is yellow tinted on the bottom 1/2 to 1/3rd of the screen...

This is not "within spec"... I have documentation from 5 replacements confirmed by geniuses it is not.

If this "internal communication" is true, Apple may have a legal issue.

I can understand a consistent screen warmth but not on one half of the screen. Plus, out of all the phones I've seen it goes from majorly yellow, to feint...Apple got faulty LCD's and is trying to pass the buck on us, but I say NO WAY!!!

Take care of your customers...We obviously took care of you this quarter!!