iPhone 3G S has yellowish tint

Hi all-
I think some of these concerns may be related to POLARIZATION.
My wife and I both had 3Gs and upgraded to 3GSs at the same time, same store. I immediately noticed that mine was not as bright, more yellowish, and had slightly less saturated colors than my 3G. My wife's new 3GS looked much more like my old 3G (ie better). After mentioning it to an Apple Store employee, and comparing it to a number of display model 3GSs, they swapped my 3GS for a new one, but it had the _same problem_!

On the drive home, wearing my polarized sunglasses, I noticed that my 3GS did not change when rotated. With my previous 3G and even with my wife's 3GS, the fact that the iPhone screen in polarized causes it to look darker when rotated 90 degrees while wearing polarized sunglasses or using a polarizing lens filter. This is proof that my new 3GS's screen is not polarized like my wife's new 3GS is and my old 3G was. A polarized screen, which is also found in the iMac and MacBook Pro, can enhance the color saturation (vibrant colors) and contrast (deep blacks), but my new 3GS is lacking those qualities.

*If you have similar issues with the look of your screen:*
Use a pair of polarized glasses or a linear polarized lens filter to see if your iPhone is lacking the polarization. Let us know what you find!!

I cant tell you all right now that there is a problem. I got back from the ATT store and the 16GB 3G S on display was like my 3G. Perfect. It's crisp, clear, bright, white. Comparing my own 3G S right next to it, mine looked disgusting. Washed out, yellow, nasty. It is also harder to read. It will be going back.

Here are my experiences with the yellowish tint. Got my 16GB 3G-S on Friday, was upgrading from an Original 8GB. I set the phone as a new device, and manually added everything back. Later that night I noticed the yellowish tint in my contact list ans was ******. So I looked at all of my friends new devices side by side to compare and my was definitely yellow compared to theirs. I then compared to all of the display devices in the Apple Store. Again, mine was yellow and the others were not. So I got a new unit. Opened it, activated it and it was not yellowish. So I was very happy. I then restored the device and bang! it went back to yellow! There has to be a setting in the firmware that can be set.... I want the blue-white back....

Just tried looking at the screen with polarized sunglasses as suggested.

My wife's White iPhone 3G S 32GB which has crisp, great looking colors changed when rotated. On the other hand, my Black iPhone 3G S 32GB that has the yellow tint issue does not change under rotation when looking through polarized glasses.

Does this mean her iPhone has a better quality screen because it is polarized? I am already on my second replacement iPhone 3G S because of the yellow tint and the Apple store where I exchanged it refuses to swap it out again...

I don't know what to do anymore, I love the speed and all the little improvements, but the yellow tint really bothers me...

UPDATE: Both my wife's and my old 3G which have great looking colors change under rotation when viewed through polarized sunglasses.

Message was edited by: Miula

As I mentioned in my first post only half of my screen is yellow. It looks shaded and washed out. I was trying to convince myself that it wasn't that bad and I could live with it. But why should I? The more I look at it the more unhappy I am. It's going back...

I tried this numerous times. Just tried it again. It's the screen itself. Nothing in the firmware.

When I compared this to the one in the store - the color on this phone was so yellow and washed out in comparison that it was disgusting. I can only describe it as if a smoker has used my phone for years. Nasty is what it is. It's also dim and hard to read.

My 16G 3GS has a yellowish tint. But the most annoying part is that my picture quality (contrast ratio) on my older 3G is quite a bit better than my new 3GS iPhone. I placed an identical pic on both iphones and the 3G one has a lot better looking picture. More deeper color. The 3GS looks washed out.

Test the one that has the yellowish tint and see if it also has a washed out look vs the non yellowish unit using the same pic.

I'm probably going to return my new 3GS. Other than that I love it better than the 3G.

Swapped my phone out yesterday. It seemed more white yesterday. I looked at it just now and it seems to have become more yellow. I don't feel that I can go back again to the store as they were so patient in trying to help me. I found one display one yesterday, that seemed pretty white. However, the two he brought out from the back had yellow tint too. The one I took seemed to be the closest to the display. The manager explained that each one they pulled from the back had to be activated, before they could turn it on. He also told me they could keep pulling one out after another and more than likely, I would not find another like the display. I guess I will either have to live with this, or return it completely. I am disappointed.

I think what we all need to do is wait a bit for the next shipment to start rolling out. From the info in the other forum, whose link got deleted, it is becoming clear that the phones manufactures in the 21-24th weeks are usually yellow, and 25 is a mix.

To find your week, look at the serial number of the phone (Can be found on the phone itself under settings-general-about) Look at the 4th and 5th digit. Mine is 21, so mine was manufactured in the 21st week of the year (mid-may).

If you go to replace your phone, look at the box, and look for one with a later build date for a better chance of a good result. Im going to wait until this coming Friday and hope for some 26 or 27 build date phones.

The one I swapped for has a twenty-four. I guess I am out of luck, in regards to getting one free of the dreaded yellow tint. I don't dare go back to the store and ask again. My family feels I am making too much of it. I am frustrated. They were pretty helpful yesterday, and I think if I were to go back again, they would be irritated. Any advice?

I thought it looked OK until I held it up next to the display model. Also my sister boughet a 32gb 24 weeker that has the whitest, most beautiful screen of all time.

The problem is, I can minimize the problem by cranking the brightness but that drains the battery. The correct screens look great at half brightness, better then mine at near max.

After surfing the web with the yellow screen you can really tell.

For those who want an easy way to tell, max the brightness on the phone, then slide it down to around the ss in Brightness. You will see that the screen looks distinctively yellow.

Message was edited by: kre62

Frodo B wrote:
I have a black 32g iPhone and it has a slight yellow tint on the bottom half of the screen when in portrait mode. The top half (or left side when in landscape mode) is more blue. I'm not too bothered by this and will keep the phone.

I'm inclined to believe this is a backlight issue.

I have this issue too, trying to decide whether I should take it back and exchange =/, serial number is "25".

I personally like the warmer look. I noticed it reduces strain on my eyes with warmer display. Perhaps, other people complained about eyes strain with bright white color? A friend of mine told me he had to wear glasses since he spent a lot of time with his iPhone.

You might like the warmer color, but it's not apart of the design. You really should take it to exchange to get a new one while they do this. After awhile it will be only refurbs.

Mines being replaced tommorow as well.

I went from a first gen iPhone to the 3GS and definitely have the yellow tint on the new phone, in some light such as outdoors its more noticeable, and especially when comparing with the first gen phone,

I compared with another 3GS in the apple store and that had better whites than mine. When I do a direct comparison, the bluer/whiter screen seems far nicer, especially in safari

however... after comparing video and apps with a lot colour in it, to my first gen phone, the yellow tint phone looks a lot better in those cases, its just looks off in apps that are mostly white such as safari. Also, on my first gen phone, with the whiter screen, apps like kindle with black text on white screen were hard to read, very stressful on my eyes, with the new phone though, kindle is much nicer to read on the yellow tinted phone,

so I think I will wait to see if I can get used to it, I see pro's and ***'s in both screens