iPhone 12 screen brightness issue

Projoe55 wrote:

Apple is aware and soon will be handling this issue… trust me.

It is kind of clear Apple is aware since they have made a documentation for it. Not only that, they are already handling too and explained that it’s expected for when the device detects it is too warm.

I was given a replacement — another iPhone 12 Pro. It performed the same as the first phone. I returned it to the store 1 hour later and traded it in for an 11 Pro, which performed well on a sunny, hot, 12-day trip to Egypt and Asia.

I can understand the overheat at 100F. But I’m getting overheat dimming at 78F in the sun within a few minutes. It’s ridiculous. Apple should be ashamed. I can’t use it to take pics on a regular beautiful day.

I think their claim of operating temps up to 95f is bs!

It's very usable outside in both brightness and warmth, but if you use a case it needs to be one that doesn't retain heat.

Remember that the iPhone 12, like all smart phones, is rated for operation from 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)

Don’t bother- I have the iPhone 12 mini with exactly the same problem. Apple are in denial (2 trips to store so far). It’s an overheating issue and the screen dimming is the iphone defence. My ancient iPhone 7 Plus never did this and the screen on that is way brighter and crisper. I feel robbed.

This is old news (I've posted in the past) -- When my 12Pro repeatedly and consistently dimmed and overheated, they did all the diagnostics, display adjustments, removed apps, removed the case - and finally ordered a replacement 12Pro, which dimmed/overheated within 10 minutes of arriving at my home in a back-yard-photo trial. I immediately returned to the store, and turned it back in (low trade-in for a two-hour old phone -- they based it on the fact that the original purchase was in November), and downgraded/bought an 11Pro. The AppleCare plan was not transferrable, so I bought a new plan for the 11Pro. FYI - I took the 11Pro with me on a two-week long trip where temps were 100-111 degrees with bright sun, and it performed well.

WELL SHOOT! ... I went through all the 12Pro problems and "fixes" most of you have, (including a replacement) and finally gave up and purchased/downgraded to the 11Pro - Traveled to Egypt in 106-111 temps and it worked well --- until today. I was in the backyard about 5 minutes, and was taking a picture of my tomato plant (it is 90 degrees here) . Literally, while I was looking at the screen to take the picture, the screen dimmed and I could not see what I was trying to take a picture of -- after 5 minutes on a sunny day. The face of the phone got so hot I could not keep my arm on it (you do know that's the way you take a baby's temp, right? - the underside of your wrist)...... So, now, I'm dealing with the 11Pro behaving the same way as the 12Pro --- I assumed the 12 was the one with these problems, but maybe the 11 too? The 11 Pro is one month old.. Of course, I will contact Apple..again. Anyone experiencing this dimming and overheating with the 11's?

I use mine in direct sunlight all day and have never seen it dim let alone go dark.

Were there other activities happening on your phone at the time that may have caused its internal temperature to rise?

There seems to be a lot of new people come in with THE ANSWER but it never works. The issue is screen brightness ranging from dimmed to black screen. It happens from in the sun direct, refracted light, and indoors out of sun altogether. The phone gets hot for some and only warm for others. This happens in hot weather outdoors and indoors in the air conditioning. We have had customer service virtual over the phone and physically in to the Apple store . We have done all typical fixes and extreme fixes. In settings and in accessibility. We have been ignored and pacified by customer service and also had extreme help. Some are living with the issue frequently and others occasionally. Finally some have had replacements and others trying to work it out with the original phone.

It is frustrating that this is not really being addressed and more frustrating (borderline insulting) when new people come in with a "fix" We have ALL spent a ton of money and ALL have not gotten any answer. If there was a way to fix then it would not take 14 pages of complaints on the forum to find it. There is no answer until apple officially gives one. Most of us wish we could "unpurchase" this iphone 12 pro max

I did downgrade (after getting a 12 Pro replacement that had the same issues). I traded in a 6-month-old 12 Pro on an 11Pro. Cost me another $1400, that included $269 for Apple Care Agreement and Theft coverage on the new phone (I already had that on the 12 Pro but it wasn't transferrable), and sales tax. I got a $625 trade in the form of a gift card to Best Buy since I bought the 12 there, so bought the new cover (the 11 is a different size) out of the gift card... It was not cheap to downgrade, but I successfully traveled to a foreign country with sweltering 100+ degree temps in June, and the 11 performed like a champ. I do have my paperwork from the above transaction in the event there is any kind of recall..

The common factor across all iPhone 12 is the A14 processor. Not the screen. Not the battery. The Processor. It’s also the first time they use the A14 on a phone. Hence, this has been my primary suspect for the rapid overheating compared to any previous iPhone I’ve owned.

The iPhone 13 has a mew A15 processor. Makes you wonder…

Again, the iPhone 12, like all smartphones, is designed for use within the following temperature ranges:

Operating ambient temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)

Nonoperating temperature: −4° to 113° F (−20° to 45° C)

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini - Technical Specifications - Apple

Unfortunately, it does not seem to be "heat that causes the dark screen". On many occasions, I've had mine in my air-conditioned car trying to read maps and the screen turned black. Sunlight seems to be a factor.

Not a few, many millions around the world do not see this.

That doesn't diminish the experiences of those who have, but it also means there must be other factors that exacerbate the issue, perhaps brightness settings or cases that insulate more than most.

There are also many complaints of similar issues with the flagship devices from Google and Samsung.

Note one common factor may be OLED screens, which will heat more than LCD screens did if you keep the brightness at maximum.

I can almost guarantee that if you:

1) place phone on dashboard mount on sunny day and

2) connect to charger and

3) open waze gps app

…within 5-10 mins it will be dimmed to the point you can’t see the screen.

if anyone can do this and NOT exhibit dimming then I will admit the problem is not widespread.

ive tested 5 iPhone 12 like this and they all failed. Frankly they failed with less stress than that, but still …

none of my previous iPhones had an issue with this exact same usage condition.