iPhone 3G S has yellowish tint

Haha...I am not sure if I should continue to read these forums. I came on here initially because I have 2 dead pixels on my iPhone 32gig 3G S...now I became aware of the whining issue with the video camera, SMS, etc. Now, I just noticed in the bottom right corner when the screen is white there is a yellow blotch. My entire screen is not tinted...only a nickel sized circle in the lower right portion of the screen. I have an appointment with a "Genius" on Friday morning and am going to swap it out (hopefully). I am bringing my laptop with me to activate it on the spot if necessary and am thoroughly inspecting it before I leave. I am so disappointed with Apple and the quality of these phones...they are better than this.

I visited the apple store today because of the same yellow tint issue. I was given an appointment with the lead genius by a product specialist over at iPhone technical support. He noticed that the colors looked washed out and were not as vibrant. He replaced it and now I don't have any yellow tint and the colors look great! He even compared my new one to his and his looked like my old one. I checked the serial number on my new one and it was made in the 24th week (to check yours, look at the 4th and 5th digits in the serial #). my old one was made in the 23rd week. I read earlier that iPhones made in the 21-23rd week seemed to have this "yellow tint" issue, so check yours just in case.

So don't settle for these defected iPhones, it's definetly a defect and IT CAN BE FIXED!!!

so I've been reading this thread all the way through since my iPhone 3GS also has a small yellow tint to it

Now when comparing it to my original 2G iPhone with the cool colors(which I used to thing had a better screen). But now when I compare it, the cool color screen on my original 2G iPhone just looks blue/purple to me. Also, when reading my e-mails I find that the original 2G iPhone screen stresses my eyes out more than the yellow tint iPhone 3GS screen.

So I think that if you're okay with the yellow tint, keep it, especially if it's easier on your eyes. But if you're not happy with it, get a replacement. If the yellow tint ends up bothering me, I will eventually switch it out too (but only after a while to allow newer units to stock up)

**Btw, I am using default brightness settings with auto-brightness on. I like to conserve my battery life. Raising the brightness level is not an option for me.

Hey LMA9375, about where on the bar is the default setting? The middle? I'm going to move it back myself but do not want to restore all factory settings.

Back to the subject, my brother got his 3GS just two days after I did and guess what?? His screen is significantly cooler and blue, like the old 1st gen. phones. We compared his and mine and you could clearly see the yellow tint on mine and his was only a touch of it. Also, the colors on the home screen (mainly the apps) and the other pages stand out more on mine. They were a little more muted on his 3GS. He knows I've been stressing and even offered to exchange phones, but I think I like mine better now! Easier on the eyes too, like mentioned above. For everyone else, I hope you get your phone the way you like it! I'm keeping mine now. I like it.

Maynoir,

the default brightness setting is right in the middle, under the 'h' and 't' in 'Brightness'

And I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that the yellow tint is easier on the eyes. It really is easier on the eyes, especially when reading stuff like plain text e-mails. Having the black text on a bright blue-white screen somewhat hurts my eyes after reading for a while, but the black text on a yellow-white screen is no strain on my eyes at all. It may not look pretty at first, but after a while, it may be a benefit to your health.

Once again, it's all about how you prefer it. I've gone from having the phone number for Apple Support ready and getting ready to send the iPhone 3GS back in to not worrying anymore.

I read earlier that iPhones made in the 21-23rd week seemed to have this "yellow tint" issue, so check yours just in case.

Mine was made in the 23rd week (according to the S/N) and has no yellow tint. In fact, an all white screen appears slightly cooler (bluer) than my Mac screen which is colorimeter calibrated.

Well, I compared my 3GS with my friends's 3GS this evening. Both his and mine are yellowish and it is obvious when compared with my old first gen iPhone. However, mine is slightly more yellowish than my friend's 3GS. However, dark font looks darker and color looks sharper on mine. I noticed this when looking at the the number of date on Calendar app. I'm now convinced the yellow tint is good intention although there may be slight variation between phones. I'm going to cancel my appointment with Apple and keep my current phone.

I can certainly see that my screen is warmer, but the only way I really notice that it has a yellow tint is if I do a side by side comparison. In my opinion mine actually looks more natural and the whites while not perfectly white aren't blue like previous display on iPod Touchs.

I am certainly not trying to rock any ones boat, but I think some of you are just being too nit picky. I think it is one thing for it to be yellow enough that it impacts one ability to use it and enjoy it. But the slight yellow that I see certainly doesn't fall into that category. However, apparently there are some that are much more yellow than others. I suppose I should be happy because mine is only slight and honestly I find it vivid and the text is very crisp.

I am another that won't be making any trips to AT&T or the Apple Store!

And I’m another one who is totally annoyed by the yellow tint. Especially when dimmed. I wait for a new production batch (Week 30 should be safe?) and then get my yellowish iPhone replaced! I hope I don’t get a refurbished one (tend to have stuck pixels in my experience...). Mine is week 23.

Are any of you seeing the yellow tint on the iPhone 3GS 16GB White? It seems like a lot have posted to this thread indicating that they are using the black model. I have a 16GB 3GS White (build date 25), and I see the yellow tint. I took my phone to the apple store last night and compared with various demo models, and the guys at the apple store could definitely tell the difference. Problem is all of the stores are out of phones right now, so I have to wait. If I knew that this was just something that could be fixed with a firmware update, I wouldn't return the phone since it's a hassle.

I have a white 16GB iPhone 3G S (week 21) and (from bottom to top) about 10% of the screen has this yellow tint. I won’t be taking it back as it seems to be the norm, and will most likely end up with a replacement that has far more defects.

Hi All-
I know most of you are focusing on the warm/cool (yellow/blue) differences in the tint of your phone, of which my new 3GS is ever so slightly warmer. But... what I am most at issue with is that the color is very noticeably washed out (less saturation) and has lower contrast (blacks are grey). Are all the people with "yellow" tint noticing the same thing, or are these two separate issues? I find it most noticeable when looking at pictures that have green grass and true flesh tones. I can also see that when comparing the background color of the Notes app, the 3GS is lighter than my old 3G due to the lower saturation. When I got my (first) 3GS on Saturday I noticed it right away and on Sunday the Apple Store replaced it for me, but it is identical. Like some others here I am waiting to hear of a solution before returning again. Regardless of the "yellow tint" I am a photographer and it is important to me to be able to show off photos the way they should look - I'm sure Apple will be able and willing to solve this for me at some point.

Regarding the polarization... I posted about that a while back and started another thread but got no real feedback. Using a linear polarized filter, I can see that my 3G clearly darkens a lot when the filter (or phone) is rotated, but my 3GS does not _at all_. My wife's 3GS bought at the same time does darken and does not have the low saturation issue I do. Think they are related? Please try it on your phone and let me know, you can use polarized sunglasses.

Ryan,

You are 100% correct and that is exactly my problem too as I said in an earlier post "the real issue is that the yellowish screens have poorer contrast, color saturation and seem washed out when compared with the bright white ones like I have and also some on the store display".

I think that most people concentrate at the more apparent yellowish look, but in fact they are bothered by poor contrast and not deep blacks or correctly saturated colors.

Just to make things more confusing the new 3GS has improved text display so it is more difficult for most to isolate what they really don't like about the yellowish screens "Apple says that fonts on the iPhone 3G S are rendered by the phone, as opposed to being bitmaps, and that this approach accounts for the smoother and sharper appearance of text" excerpt from the Washington Post review:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903851. html

I and my wife find the white screens (on our original 3G that we had to exchange 5 times when they first came out because they also had yellow screens) a lot easier to read long term. While the yellowish screen with poorer black may appear "easier on the eyes" at first, in fact it feels that it strains our eyes after 10-15 minutes of use as the blacks and colors seem washed out.

Please let us know how the blacks and color saturation look on the yellowish screens. Thanks!

Message was edited by: SoCaliFun

I recently replaced the 32GB Black iPhone in-store at Apple because the display had a yellowish tint. Some obersvations:

1. How is it possible that all the display models (both 3GS black/white 16/32GB) had perfect screens? (I think they know which ones are good/bad based on serial or maybe they just open a bunch up and put the best ones out)

2. When I commented on how I bought it at an AT&T store, they genius guy said I would have to come back for the replacement phone as they are different than what they give customers who bought it at an Apple store.

3. When I came back because I got a call about my replacement model coming in, the woman could care less about the screen. She said she couldnt tell a single difference between my 32GB 3Gs and hers. I offered to trade as mine was in better condition and of course she declined. She then rushed my through the replacement process as I didnt even have time to compare the new screen to the old one (apparently it was her time to take a lunch).

4. I walked out the store comparing the new replacement to the display models and it still has a yellowish tint to it. Though it was much more subtle, I am very dissatisfied with the whole thing.

Should I return it and buy a different one?
3.

I am sooo dissapointed to report that my 3gs has the yellow tint as well and im just about to be done with apple. its crazy that they didnt get the picture with the 3g yet this happens yet again. i went to the apple store and saw a genious at the genious bar and she told me apple was aware of the problem and that a firmware upgrade would fix the issue but i somehow dont believe that at all so im going to probably try to swap it out but the thing is......the display fones kinda looked like my phones so im scared to swap out with a phone with more issues...aka a refurbished.