iPhone 12 Pro Max screen has yellow tint

Surprisingly I have yellowish colors on my company iPhone 8plus which I did not really detected in the past. I just wonder if the colors’ spectrum is not changing based on environment (light intensity, night, ...) and maybe a recent iOS update, seems to be on all iPhones... I don’t use any of the colors features available. But I have my iPad which has a very strong white !!! So there is a problem...

Thanks to previous suggestions, I was able to apparently “correct” my iPhone 12’s yellow tint problem. Still, I am worried this could be a hardware problem (eg. poor display quality). So, should I keep it or return it? Not sure...

The solution was to:

1) Keep True Tone on;

2) Turn on “Reduce White Point” and set it to 25%;

3) Turn on “Color Filters”, select Color Tint, set Intensity to minimum and HUE to about 60% of its level.

I am attaching two pictures showing the adjustments above. Hope it helps!!

Well well.. now when I followed tips mentioned on one of the Reddit forum realized its not screen issue...its software basically set to conserve battery!!!! Unless you are really have bad oled

how to test:

turn off : true tone, auto brightness

set the brightness to max.. and then you compare with prior models

oled on iphone 12 max is much much brighter and vibrant!!

attached image: both device auto brightness , true tone off, brightness max

xr on left , 12 pro max right

I just did an interesting experiment. I took every available Apple device in my house, and put the settings exactly the same. Tried with TrueTone on and off. All next to each other full brightness.

iPad Mini 5, iPad Air 3, iPhone XR, iPhone 11- all different models and devices... the white point looks very similar and almost impossible to tell there's difference in person. The iPhone 12 Pro Max, not so much... it stands out bad...

Yet Apple claims these are to spec.

Below: from left to right, iPad Mini 5, iPad Air 3, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11. The one sticking out like a sore thumb is the 12 Pro Max, and while it looks reddish in the photo, it's just white balance from camera being off. It appears very yellow/green in comparison to the others- which are very consistent across the board.

Edit: Forgot to mention. The phone I used to take the photo was an iPhone SE 2020. I laid it down next to them all with same settings and it also appeared consistent with all but the iPhone 12PM, but... needed it to take the pic so couldn't include. :)

I’ve just read almost all these posts.

The general consensus is that most have an issue with deeper more intense yellowing of the display when TrueTone is switched on. When I use my iPhone in a dark room with TrueTone it’s very yellow the display, it gives the appearance of Night Shift being switched on. The work around for using color filter and setting the hue and intensity to the below seems to clear it up and tone down TrueTone yellowing. So if I want less yellow intensity using TrueTone at night I have to enable color filter. The issue of concern for me currently on my 2 day old iPhone Pro Max is a slight pink reddish tint towards the lower part of the display. I’m sure it’s within tolerance levels though.

Firstly, thanks... but I’m not an Apple employee. I’ve never worked for Apple and I probably never will have to. What I am is an IT professional and own my own business. A few of my clients who have iPhones within the 12 series line up have brought the tinted white background to my attention so I did some trials and research. Naturally, I came across this forum so I thought I’d share my findings.

I believe most of the people on here aren’t actually upset with the topic of this discussion per say, but rather they are concerned if something is physically wrong with their hardware... and rightfully so. I’m simply stating what I’ve found after testing (as I recall) 5, 12-series iPhones and all have the warmer tone of white appearance versus all the other prior iPhones (LCD and OLED screens) and all iPads with which I have compared. I just thought that maybe my findings would give some people peace of mind that it’s most likely nothing wrong with their phones, but the way it was designed. If a change is desired, then one can adjust it. If a person is not happy with how the screen appears by default and doesn’t want to change the settings, then I think only a return may be the option because I believe exchanging it will yield the same results and not make the problem go away because it may not actually be a problem to Apple. I also think if Apple receives enough negative feedback about it... maybe they will release an update to tweak the default settings.

You can actually see the comparative difference within this text thread with a client for this is on an iPad screen and you can see the picture of an iPhone 12 Max and the difference is plain as day.

So I can only hope this puts some minds at ease.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Not an Apple employee.

well I have the same issue, but I am not sure that is the defect or not cuz I came back to apple store and compare with the demo then I found out 50% of the demo have the same issue and each device has bit of the difference screen colour. I booked appointment with them to check it out.

Same thing happened to me.

I and my husband both purchased 12 pro max.

Compared to his pro max under same settings, my screen is more green/yellow ish, especially when nightshift is on.

My serial number starts with G0ND and my partners is different.

Since it’s only happening to my device, I’m scared that this might be hardware issue.

I spent about 90 minutes this morning with a really nice Apple Tech, and we tried multiple steps to resolve the "yellowish" issue on my iPhone12 Pro Max. He finally determined that I need to take it into one of the stores. Currently in ATL, there is about a 7 day waiting period for an appointment.

Honestly, had I not compared it to my old iPhone 7 (for work), the off-color white wouldn't have bothered me so much.

I'll let you know how I make out.

My serial number starts with the same G0ND and it also has a very yellow/green tint. What country are you from? I'm in the UK.

Interesting to see if more people can comment and see if more yellow screens come from this batch.

Perhaps share a screenshot so we can see what you're describing. I didn't compare my iPhone 12 Pro Max to my iPhone 11 Pro Max before selling it and looking at mine and my moms iPhone 12 Pro Max I don't see a difference to realize there is a problem (might be better off not noticing lol).

I've just been in a Apple Services, got an appointment from Apple helpdesk to change the phone, but today they said that they have got a service message from Apple to tell all the people that this is a software problem that should be resolved with an update; so the could not be changed .

So, I checked all the models there, comparing my phone, some of them had the same issue, but other no; this means that the screen is not equal to each other, not coming from the same vendors. This doesn't look like a good thing; not a good quality.

So, now, I don't know if to wait an update or call again the Apple Service to complain and ask for a change (in 4 days I don't have anymore the rights to give the phone back, so I'm concern to remain with a wrong phone without any help from Apple).

Hi there. Try this. Go to settings, then Display & Brightness and see if True Tone is turned on. On mine it showed as a yellow tint until I turned this off and now my phone looks fine. Hope this helps

Thanks for your pics. I have both iphone xs max and iphone 12 pro max on my hand. My xsmax looks like your husband's 12promax on the left and my 12 promax looks like your 12 promax. I decide to return my iphone 12 promax.

Same problem with my iphone 12 pro. Got it on the launch date. Really disappointed by apple.

Did anyone check the screen with “True Tone On” in sunlight/bright light?

Truetone adjusts the yellow tint perfectly and iPhone looks normal.

Just wondering if in that case would it be Manufacturing Defect or Software?

Let me know your thoughts.