New Macbook Pro Screen Flickering

The same thing is happening to me, as well as other people (also check here).

I suggest reaching out to Apple through support, or by filing a bug report (not sure how to do that though). Several people got replacements, but the issue seems to persist, so it makes me think that this could be a software/optimization problem of some kind. I really hope Apple acknowledges it.

I just purchased a

mid-2019 MacBook Pro (MacBookPro15,2)

2.4 GHz Intel Core i5

Model A1989, Product Z0WQ

16GB RAM 2133 MHz LPDDR3

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 1536 MB

MacOS Mojave 10.14.6, Dark Mode

I too have a similar issue. My flashing/glitch is towards the bottom of the screen like yours but only shows up for 0.5s or less.. and is usually bright magenta or green. I cannot intentionally replicate the issue, it just seems to happen randomly. Its amazing you have a screenshot.

From what I have read, the issue might be related to the computer's sleep/awake settings and or the auto dim settings. I haven't had any issue after performing the following steps

1) Reset the SMC https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

2) Reset the NVRAM/PRAM https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

3) Turn off "Automatically adjust brightness" and "True Tone"(System Preferences > Displays > Uncheck these options)

4) Turn off "Night Shift"

5) Turn display off after 15 minutes. (System Preferences > Energy Saver > Battery > Turn display off after 15min)

No idea which one actually solved the issue but hope this helps.

I have a similar horizontal display glitch flicker on my new MacBook Pro 2019, consistently about two inches tall, located about a quarter of the way up from the bottom of the display. I read online that Chromium can contribute to graphics glitches on Macs but I don’t use Chrome. I took it in to my local Apple Store where a diagnostic was run, showing no issues. If the next major macOS update doesn’t remedy the situation I am taking it in to be replaced.

I was hoping that my MBP 2019 wasn't going to have any issues. However mine is 1 day old and I'm getting this same problem every time I wake the computer up. Its only on screen for a split second but its really annoying.

I will try and install macOS Catalina and see if that helps - would be helpful to know if anyone has installed Catalina and if they still have the same issue.

I have the same problem with a 13" MBP purchased in September. I took it into the Apple Store and they sent it away for a week. They found nothing and nothing has changed.

I have not upgraded to Catalina since my University has warned that certain functionality would be lost. But I have read in other discussions that Catalina did not fix the issue.

I don't use Chrome and am not sure when the flicker might occur. I have tried to take videos of it, but never successfully.

Any advice on how to get Apple to act on this or replace would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

RJ

I have this problem too. I bought my computer in August everything was fine until a few days later when my screen kept on making weird popping noises so since I had around 19 days to replace my computer I did so. After that everything was fine with the replaced computer until my computer kept on displaying a flickering horizontal line on my display screen, it was happening so often so I took it to the apple store. The apple worker at the genius bar did a hard reset on my computer to erase everything to see if that would work, but of course it didn't. I left my computer until Tuesday at apple for them to fix it because they said they needed a "part" to fix the computer. I come back to pick my computer on Tuesday, they said they couldn't find anything wrong with my computer because they haven't seen the flickering on my computer at all. The day I bring it home the same flickering line is on my computer. I bring my computer to the apple store once again and I leave it there for around a little less than 2 weeks during the week of my midterms. They said they replaced my entire display screen. Everything is fine for a couple of days and then of course my screen starts flickering once again. I am so frustrated with how apple has been dealing with my computer. I called them up to tell them what happened and they won't replace my computer. I've spent too much money for my computer to start having problems with it 2 months in. I am disappointed in how long this has taken for my computer to be fixed. Now I have to take my computer in again and will probably have to leave it there again and I have exams coming up.

The same thing happened to me. I took my brand new computer in several times and spent hours on the phone with Apple Support. They tried all the resets and reinstalled the OS twice and replaced the screen and sent it to California to replace the logic board. Finally I got it replaced altogether and the new one is doing the same thing. You'd think if this is such a widespread problem, Apple would figure out how to fix it or at least one of the 7 people I talked to would have heard about it before, but they all acted like they had no idea what it was. I have turned off the true tone, and that seems to have stopped it, but it seems ridiculous for a brand new (and very expensive) computer to not be able to handle the features they advertise. Both of my computers also drop/dropped the wifi frequently, and I've only solved that issue by turning off a bunch of the energy saver features (thanks to YouTube for that tip, since no one at Apple could figure that one out either) but now my battery doesn't last nearly as long. I'm hoping this is just a software issue and Apple gets around to fixing it sooner rather than later. I work from home, so I can't keep sending it to the Apple store for them to ignore because they can't immediately replicate it.

I have the same Issue.

Bought a MacBook Pro 13" (i5, 1,4; 8GB RAM, 256gb) in September and I noticed the screen flickering. In the beginning in the lower part, but als other pattern appeared. So I went back to Apple Store and they got me a new Model immediately.

After 2 Days the Screen flickering appeared on that one too. I read that a Catalina OS upgrade has been helpful for some people and for some don't. For me it helped in the beginning, but again after 2 days same problem again. Very very annoying. So I downgraded again for mojave. Same thing again. About 2 days there where no issues, then BAM. Back.

Apple please get that fixed ASAP. Or give us at least a proper solution for it.

As many users here, I encountered the same problem. It’s rather infrequent on my machine (15-inch model bought by the end of October), but it’s there.

I don’t want to install Catalina for now, because I still need support for legacy programs, and I’ve read here and there that the update sometimes causes even more problems.

I guess I have to call support, but I fear being not helped at all, or told to send my computer for a repair service that wouldn’t solve the issue either. Other stories told by users in this thread suggest it could be the case.

Anyway, I'm mainly here to report the issue. Let's hope someone at Apple is watching this thread.

I also have a brand-new MacBook Pro 15 inch and also started to get the screen flicker. After a ton of online research, it was suggested that it has to do with the Mac switching between graphics modes to optimize the battery life. People said that going to the battery icon and opening "energy saver preferences" and then unchecking "Automatic graphic switching" would fix the issue.

Indeed it did. However, my battery life is abysmal - I did a Facetime today for 30 minutes and my battery life when from 100% to 30%.

In researching why that was, it was suggested that you need to make sure that the "Automatic graphic switching" is checked.

So, I went and checked it. And guess what instantly came back? The freaking screen flicker!!!!

Conclusion: There is something about when the computer switches between graphic modes that is causing this, but it sacrifices a crazy amount of battery life to keep it from doing that.

I have an appointment with Apple next Monday (I had one today, but their diagnostics were down so I needed to reschedule). I will report back on any possible solutions here.

What I know with 100% certainty is that none of us should be having this level of continuous issues with brand-new top of the line computers. Apple needs to do something about it now.

I have the same problem guys :( I tried turning off the automatic graphic switching :( lets see if this helps. So far I sent it in for a hardware check and they didn't find anything wrong. Then they whipped the OS after it kept happening. I have a Mac Book Pro 15 inch mid 2019 model. This sucks guys. I paid so much money for a new Mac. My old Mac from 2012 NEVER had these problems. This fiasco is making me never want to get another Mac again not gonna lie. Im a CS major and this is my school computer! Apple needs to acknowledge and fix this ASAP.

Update: I went to my Genius Bar appointment and, due to the many issues I was already experiencing aside from the screen flicker/battery drain - including a crash while doing a screen recording in Quicktime, my camera being ridiculously grainy, and more - he said that I might need a new display, a new logic board, and a new battery. He suggested that I needed to send it in for repair.

After thinking about that a bit, I realized that if I needed all of that - and all of that was replaced - I would be given back a refurbished MacBook, which is not what I paid for a month ago. I paid for a new computer. So, when I went in to drop it off, I asked to talk to a manager. He was super nice and suggested they triage it at the store instead of sending it in, and said he would "make it right" if this didn't fix it.

So, I left it there. They ended up running hardware checks (which the Genius Bar guy already did) and then said that they would like to erase the computer and see if that helped. They were also supposed to run a whole bunch of tests to replicate the issues I was having. I told them to erase it and go forward.

They called me a day later and told me that I could pick it up. I get home with it and realize that all my Mac apps have now been erased completely and not restored - so Pages, Numbers, Garageband, and Keynote - all of which are what allows the computer to be used as a computer and are all things I use in my work. I was SUPER annoyed, because that also meant that they could not have attempted to replicate any of my issues, as they would require that someone was doing a Keynote while doing a screen recording while using the camera to do a movie recording (which caused a horrible WHOOOOOSH sound and then crashed).

Not cool.

I called the store and someone in repair told me that there was "no one in the store that could help me" and he "would refer me to Apple Care." I tried to explain that they were the ones that did this AT THE STORE, but he transferred me before I could even explain that. Really not cool.

So, I ended up chatting with another Apple Care Advisor who finally upgraded me to have a senior advisor call me. He was super nice and told me that my issues should be resolved by upgrading to Catalina. So, I just did that. Nope. Screen flicker came back literally one minute after rebooting. Once again, I turned off the automatic graphic switching, and, once again, my screen flicker stops but my battery drains at an astonishing rate. As in, it's been 35 minutes since I turned that off, and my battery is down to 78% from 100%.

That's obviously not a solution for a portable computer. I am not lugging my charging cord with me everywhere just so I don't have an annoying screen flicker every 15 to 60 seconds.

I've got a case number from the senior advisor, so I am going to try this again.

I've seen people saying that a NVRAM reset and a SMC reset may fix this issue. I am going to try that tomorrow and I will report back if that helps.

This is costing me a ridiculous amount of time to try to sort out on a new computer, but here we are.

Are you running Catalina? I have a 2019 13" MBP with the same specs and haven't had this issue. I would take it to the Genius Bar if it is still covered under warranty. If not, at least have a chat with apple support. That shouldn't be happening.

I bought the MBP 13" with Touch Bar in May and had similar issues: flickering, green/black bar quarter of the way up the screen, and only a couple times the whole screen went static. Always for less than a second. It is intermittent, but happens more when I am watching a video on Netflix or Youtube. I had the display and then the logic board replaced--same problem. After going in to the Genius Bar increasingly irritated enough times over many months, they replaced the whole computer in December. Same problem.

That is exactly what I have, on the lower 1/3 of the screen. I took it to apple, and they reset the SMC. It kept happening. Then brought it back to apple, and they replaced the whole display. (I am also having an issue with trutone flickering in any kind of daylight.) It was ok for a few days, then it started getting worse. Flicker and trutone issues are the same. . I called apple and they had me reinstall Mojave in a partition. I am supposed to see if this clears up the issue...

Brand new MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)

2.8 GHz Intel Core i7