iPhone 3G S has yellowish tint

Hello again Teach5! My post/reply to you had also been deleted a couple weeks back, as had michaelbb's. I had initially thought this was suppression of our posts, but I later presumed (and still believe) it was an accident/server error as a few other posts had also been deleted (approximately an 8 hour time span worth of posts seemed to have been lost).

Anyway, as per my last deleted post, I wanted to again congratulate you for perservering and not giving up in trying to get your refund. The nastiness you had tolerated was inexcusible, and I heartedly agree 100% with your advice to others to not give up until one is satisfied.

I myself am so addicted to the iPhone 3G S and find it to be such a helpful productivity tool that also is full of entertainment, that I am spinning my head going through this replacement process to try to get a decent screened functional 3G S as my wife had gotten.

If the Apple system requires discerning individuals such as us to have to go and return for full refund every bad 3G S we run across, be it 20 times, then so be it, we can play their game until we find a non-defective unit. It's a horrid time-consuming and frustrating process, and that's how I feel with an Apple Store just 7 miles from my home. I can't even begin to imagine how frustrating it is for someone that has to drive 300 miles or mail their defective phone in.

And as I had stated in my now deleted former post, from your experience that I learned from (thank you for sharing all your experiences BTW), I will be sure never to order one of these phones online - it just makes for an insane headache trying to get service or a refund, as you had kindly explained to us from your personal experience.

If you enjoy the 3G S as much as I do, I hope you will try again by purchasing one in person, directly from an Apple Store, and be sure to compare with the sales agent your new phone with the display models before leaving to make sure your screen is at least up to par. In case you or others may not be aware, to save some time and hassle, if you live in the USA, you can check your local Apple Store's 3G S stock availability (it's updated every hour) here:

http://www.apple.com/retail/iphone/availability.php

(Edit: I just saw smacman's post and agree this is a problem - they fed me the same B.S. line saying to me +"your 3G S's screen is clearly within specifications".+ Um, no it wasn't. To maintain your rights, avoid the Genius route - return any defective phone for a full refund and buy a new 3G S outright. You'll restart your 14 or 30 day "cooling off" period wherein you can wait a couple weeks to try to re-enter the lottery again for a non defective phone.)

Message was edited by: AntonioMX5

I exchanged my phone because of the yellow tint today.... I didn't go to the so called 'genius' bar. Just walked in with the phone (and box, etc) and told them I wanted a new one because the yellow screen was bothersome at night and during the day.

My wife has a 3Gs too, and her phone seems to be 'perfect'. Good battery and no yellow tint.

Anyway, as for today, the yellow tint can be exchanged.

However my exchanged phone seems to be worse in regards to the yellow tint. Wow is all I can say. I'm taking the phone back tomorrow or Wednesday. If they say it's within limits, I'm asking for a refund (I'm still with-in the return time period).

This is my 3rd 3Gs. First one was battery issues. The 2nd one seemed to have no battery issues, but the yellow tint was prevalent. The 3rd one the yellow tint is still there, if not worse.

After reading your post, I've decided to just try to exchange my 3Gs again. I had made an appointment with the Genius Bar, but I'll go the exchange route instead. Though this will now be my 3rd exchange. I'm sure they'll flag me or something, but I need a product that I can use night and day. The yellow tint just ruins being able to read on it during the night...

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.

I'm going to try another store though, just in case a bad shipment got sent to the store closest to me. I'll go a tad farther...

We'll see.

Thanks for the input.

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!

Just bought my phone yesterday, week 28. Compared to a friends ipod touch, the screen looks yellow/warm. Compared to a coworkers iphone 3g, mine looks more vivid, better coloration, similar temperature. Without the comparison I thought the display was slightly yellow looking, but after comparing to the iphone 3g I'm pleased with the display.

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.

Congrats SS. I'm happy you got a good screen. I hope to be hearing of more reports like this.

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.