iPhone 12 OLED Screen Issue

SO after getting two brand new iphone 12 pro max, after ordering Like 9 models , i can confirm all fot this weird LCD like screen in pitch black room on a blakc wallappaer in full screen in photos apps ( to reproduce the issue easily ) or even by jut booting each phones out of the box in my bathroom with no lights on , ( you see this grey flicker...

I got 2 12 pro max today starting with F2 week 51 of production, like most of the ones i got , it's way better than the last one i got starting with G0... the issue is still present but barely visible specialy on one model + no yellow tint...

So i send pics to apple, and they confirmed to me THAT THEY DO NOT READ THESE FORUMS... AT ALL...

if u cant this minor issue ( in their opinion and i agree ) to be fixed , you need to call them and spend 30 min or 1 hour max with tech support and explain them all of this.. issue is software cos it never happen with brigthness at 100% and when the phone boot at first, the screen is perfect , you see the apple logo and then the grey flicker comes for a few seconds, it means that so cores components that initialize when booting up like all the sensor in the notch must be causing a little software bug that most ppl do not see.

they do have enough reports of this specific issue.. if all the people here were to call them maybe they'll will really look into the issue.. i've send pictures to them, spent some time with them, and it's the only solution for a fix to be coming ASAP.

hope most of you will calll them . otherwise they may fix it when 13 is released..

Guys, let's wait for the final iOS 14.5 version! We have now the confirmation that Apple is aware of the issue and is really working on it. I think it's not very trivial, because they have to correct several different displays-batches and suppliers and all display have to look good after a new software-based calibration. (Not that they have before green tint and after iOS 14.5 for example a blue tint or red tint).

For my two devices with G9P OLED-panel the Beta 2 of iOS 14.5 works perfect! I have no flickering in YouTube or other Movies with black content and no raised blacks in photos or my "AtomUhr"-App or the settings!

Here you can see the "AtomUhr" App under iOS 14.4:

And here you see the same "AtomUhr" App under iOS 14.5 Beta 2:

Went to apple store again and was told they have to follow protocol before swapping out my phone. So we did another software reset directly through the computer which did not resolve issue. The next step was to replace the screen and not the entire phone. Took about two and a half hours, but I can confirm that the new screen fixed the problem of the green tint. No more tint or flashing on black screens at any brightness levels, at least so far. I am on ios 14.4. This leads me to believe it is a hardware issue. Hope this helps

I went there and explained the problem.

First they offered a software solution, they updated and reinstalled the firmware (not the OS) on both phones.

One of them (mine) stayed the same and the other one (my girlfriend’s) got worse.

They offered to replace the screen on both phones but they only had one so I told them to replace my girlfriend’s since it has gotten worse.

I’m waiting for them to call me when they receive more displays.

My girlfriend’s phone has been perfect since then. Pure black on all scenarios described in this thread.

Here’s my girlfriend’s phone after the reset.

https://youtu.be/hk_k133TObA

Both her phone and mine were on were on 14.4 presenting the issue everywhere.

I’ll let you know (the thread) after they fix my screen (supoosedly) later this week.

[Edited by Moderator]

I suppose you just have to know how to negociate 🤷‍♂️

Of course, he asked me a lot of questions but I went there well informed and with my thoughts and knowledge about the issue well structured in my head.

Once I was there, obviously the guy that was assigned to me was not able to see the issue with all the bright lights (he even tried to see it by putting his finger on the notch 🙄 .. ) I showed him videos and told him to go to a darker room. He went to a dark room and came back. He told me he was able to see the issue and that the first solution was the software one (If they can avoid paying the screen they are going to at least try it) and that if that was not the solution they would replace the screen. I’m a CS graduate and I discussed with him about the firmware, the controllers, etc etc so i think that knowing about the issue helps.

When i got the phones back i told him that I was going to test the phones in my car (in the dark) and if it was not solved they had to replace the screen.

As I said the phone with the replaced screen is perfect and I’m really excited that the problem is finally solved (at least in one of my two phones)

Hey all, after going to the apple store 2x and chatting with them via apple support 3x they FINALLY replaced my iphone 12 pro max. Been testing it all day since getting it. Can confirm that raised blacks are no longer an issue. I don’t really notice the green/yellow tint with true tone on but I would say the colors aren’t as vibrant as my other phones; a little dull. Phone was manufactured in 1/2021. See attached.

I have been active in this forum since November last year and have been having a lot of theories. I have had 7 iPhones replaced with all of them having green tint problems. I kept the one which had least tint or at least the tint disappeared after a few seconds, and it has been fixed for me in 14.5. The above video, I did it every time I checked each phone, and now I don’t have it. Also the photos app I don’t have any problem. My gf used to think I am crazy, putting off the lights and going in the bed sheet. I have the ideal conditions to check in my toilet where there is no window and no light leak when you put off the lights and I tested every iPhone 12 mini there and after updating to 14.5 there is absolutely no problem. I have true blacks. It looks like different iPhones have different degrees of green tint.

I tried doing a DFU reset on my iPhone 12 Pro yesterday since 14.2 came out a couple days ago through iTunes. I did notice a change for the better. It seems like anything below 70% brightness seems to have that weird grey light effect during complete black scenes in a pitch black room but 70% or higher are showing true blacks as they should on an OLED. Before I did the DFU the only time I would get TRUE blacks with 0 weird backlighting issues is when it was at 100% brightness. Also, I’d like to mention that I’m aware that Apple didn’t release any info about fixing a brightness issue on the 14.2 bug notes. I figured I’d give it a try and it seemed to help a bit for me. Idk if you guys want to give it a shot but definitely make sure to have all your **** backed up into your iCloud first. It’s a pain in the *** doing a DFU reset but worth it IMO. I posted this in the macrumors forums as well. Hopes it helps some people as it did me

I'm so happy right now! Just got the 14.3 Beta 1 update and the problems has been fixed! It was a software issue!! I've done all the tests and now I get perfect black in dark scenes, photos, test videos on YouTube.

Hello everyone,

after long discussions with apple support and some thoughts on my part, here is the conclusion.

to begin with, there were two manufacturers who shared the contract for the production of new screens on the iphone 12 pro and 12 pro max one of them signed for the first time this year with apple, the second is that They have been providing apple screens for a long time ...

most of the screens were provided by this new company, probably following a more interesting offer.

But a much less interesting quality!

For my part, I actually returned my unit for a replacement on 12/08/2020. (no problem for that)

Initially I was to receive my replacement unit on 01/04/2021 (I had noted two days before the return request that if I ordered a new device it was the same delivery date)

Later on 12/13/2020 I notice that the delivery date is brought forward to 12/28/2020 and indeed the date for a new device in the apple store is also advanced.

I will therefore receive my device at the same time as if I bought a new one!

whereas if I precede a replacement I am in VIP treatment to receive a new unit as quickly as possible (this is real and lived and confirmed by the apple team)

The conclusion is that a new production line has been opened to design flawless units.

The rest of the defective units are no longer delivered.

No updates will fix the problem!

as explained very well @ m4x1k

(for my part, in addition to the screen twinkling I had lighter lines and spots on my screen, this indicates a poor screen quality)

Return your devices as soon as possible before it is too late, from now on you should receive a faultless unit if it arrives by 12/28/2020 at the earliest.

!!!! I am a European resident located in Belgium !!!!

NB: at the time I make this publication if I order a new unit I will receive it on 01/06/2021

Little Feedback

I've talked extensively with a lv 2 technician, he told me either to return the phone or if i can be patient to wait for a software fix

cos they are aware of the issue, he even told me that ordering a new phone now might still made the issue worse, cos a big batch of Iphone 12 are plagued by this , but the good news is that he is positive it has been identify as a software issue with a particular sensor interfering with the brightness display manager ( and the easy way to know it is software is to push Brightness to 100% cos at this level the issue doesn't manifest to none of us here ) same with the yellow tint or green tint, it can be fixed via software to a certain degree, i was about to order a new one, and wait t'il the 6th of January to return and get a refund of the O.G 12 pro max...

he advised me to wait a little bit cos maybe with some luck Apple will push the fix before the 8th of January to avoid massive returns ... but he told me if u do not see that any fix have been released before the 6th , ask to return the phone and order then a new one.. at least i will have 14 days to see and do it again if the issue's still present.

Just ran my iPhone 12 through my hardware calibration device before sending it back and now it's obvious why. Green is around 105% vs 95 for blue and red from 100% brightness all the way to 0! RGB grey balance on the iPhone SE on other hand is around 100% for Red Green and Blue all the way from 100% brightness to 0 giving beautiful whites and grey colors! This is something that is set at factory so most likely QA issue and I got worse screen than is normal for Apple. Not sure how widespread this is but in another YT video someone linked they also measured elevated green levels: "whites lacking red and blue" https://youtu.be/8lO6Weps8Gg?t=291 She also says the Galaxy Note and other OLED phones she tested do the same thing with white so maybe that is just more normal OLED behaviour due to not using normal RGB pixels.

If your greyscale is off all your colors will be off and no way to fix it on mobile device except to exchange and try to get better screen!

iphone 12 vs iphone se 2 grey scale

Yeah well I finally got around to doing a hardware calibration of my iPhone 12 mini before I returned it to confirm the green tint was real and it was and way worse than all my other devices except for my only other OLED device which is an older LG V35!

The chart on this page shows all devices including the older Apple X and even 8 have lower than delta error 2 which shouldn't be noticeable to all but trained eye https://www.xda-developers.com/google-pixel-3a-display-review/

Both my OLED phones average higher than 5 which even average person will notice so I can only assume I got unlucky and 2 defective screens or bad batch!

Anyways, will stick with my iPhone SE 2 and iPad which both score near delta error 1 or less which is basically considered perfect to even best trained eyes! ΔE values below 1.0 appear indistinguishable from perfect. Just returned my iPhone 12 today since couldn't tolerate the green tint contaminating every other color which is can clearly see from the memory color checker pattern test I ran on it!

iPhone 12 hardware calibration test results showing strong green tints throughout. I even did an extended greyscale test with 20 points instead of normal 10 and you can see under 10% brightness the green seems to shoot up and get even worse while the red and blue dive down making it even more noticeable at low brightness levels!

LG V35 OLED screen even worse guess that's why I never use it!

iPhone SE 2 results which shows way more accurate colors without any signs of green tint though sharp eye might notice slight blue in bottom left which is supposed to be white since Red Green and Blue line of greyscale still not on top of each other like my main display which is most accurate display of all and what I use most the time because of it.

Ipad has better white but way worse black than the iPhone SE 2 probably because of the worse contrast ratio 1000 vs 1600.

Finally my main display while not OLED still has over 2x contrast the iPhone SE 2 and way bigger at 43" with better whites and colors as accurate or better and proper greys, which should explain why I was so disappointed with screen quality on my iPhone 12!

 Checked now with 3utools the Serials from display panels.

1st iPhone 12 pro, 39/2020, Sn: F17DG, Panel Sn: G9P0356 (Date 2020-08-29)

2nd iPhone 12 pro, 49/2020, Sn: F17DT, Panel SN: G9P0466 (Date 2020-11-14)

3rd iphone 12 pro, 50/2020, SN, F17DV, Panel SN: G9P0491 (Date 2020-11-30)

All three had/have raised blacks and look yellow. I will leave the 12 Series out and wait for the 13.

I'm no longer interested in this lottery.

Hope Apple does not make this mistake again with the 13 Pro.

Guys there is some hope:

I have chatted with apple support again and the agent said it is a known problem of the 12 series and can be fixed in the future but is difficult because every device is different and they only can deliver one update for all.

Even try this video with 20% brightness in a 100% black room. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EwUp5QM9jk&feature=emb_logo

But wait for the eyes to get used to the black room otherwise you cant see it.

For all who have the problem write the support. The chance is getting higher for a fix.

Look into the chat (german)