Flashing Apple logo on power-up sequence (iPhone 12 Pro / iOS 14.3)

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Flashing Apple logo on power-up sequence (iPhone 12 Pro / iOS 14.3)

I am noticing a weird problem with the power-up sequence. Where you would normally expect the Apple logo to appear within a couple of seconds after holding onto the power button, and then the ready / unlock screen. In my case, I see an extra "quick flash" of the Apple logo BEFORE the regular power-up sequence (i.e. steady Apple logo followed by unlock screen).

The phone is less then a week old and the only unusual thing is it hung multiple times when I first set it up via direct iPhone to iPhone transfer. I ended up having to hard reboot it a few times. Since then, I have tried hard rebooting, FULL reset to factory settings w/ all contents removed, and now even install 14.4 beta (just to trigger a software update) -- but the flashing logo issue still remains.

While there does not seem to be a problem once the phone is booted up and in use, I am a bit worried that there may be an underlying hardware (or software?) problem which is best dealt with earlier than later into the ownership. It is definitely not normal.

Has anyone actually come across similar issues? Any thoughts or suggestions on other actions I can try?

Thanks in advanced.

Posted on Jan 13, 2021 9:55 AM

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Answer 1

rtykoo Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 16, 2021 6:52 AM in response to rtykoo

Update 1:

I visited my local Apple Store and the technician wiped all content and reinstalled iOS 14.3. She said first boot up was fine, but the problem reoccurred on subsequent attempts. Her only suggestion now is to wait for upcoming iOS updates in hopes the problem will be fixed, as she confirmed diagnostics did not revealed any hardware issue. Though I agree this seem software related, I am not hopeful at all betting on an upcoming iOS update.

Update 2:

My wife also recently received her iPhone 12 Pro this week. First power-up was normal and phone-to-phone data transfer from her old iPhone XR went fine. Normal usage for a day or so afterwards but she needed to power off her phone yesterday. Upon powering back up, she noticed the EXACT flashing logo “abnormality” which is plaguing my phone!? Seems too much of a coincidence but really not sure what is going on.

Really appreciate any other thoughts on this situation. Thanks all.

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Answer 2

Jan 17, 2021 4:53 AM in response to rtykoo

I've seen this happen on three new iPhone 12 Pro, also within the past week. The first two were exchanged at the Apple Store, they ended up refunding me on the third one because there doesn't seem to be a fix yet, especially since I also installed 14.4 beta 2 to see if it resolved it (it didn't).

I was prepared to wait it out through a software update, but a more concerning issue is that on two of those phones, the problem eventually led to the device no longer powering on unless connected to external power.

I'm seeing more threads describing this issue, all with new phones. Hopefully, Apple will find a solution soon, but it doesn't look like it'll be with iOS 14.4.

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Answer 3

rtykoo Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 17, 2021 6:08 AM in response to TimePilot

Thanks. This is comforting to hear but also concerning. Apple will not exchange outright at the moment as both of ours are purchased through our carrier rather than the Apple store. But hopefully more and more of these cases get reported and they eventually acknowledge there is an underlying issue (with certain batch of phones).

On those which eventually did not turn on unless connected to power, would you mind sharing how long it took? Did it just happen “naturally” after certain period, number of recharge cycles, or reboots?

Also, I am not successful in finding other similar incidents reported elsewhere so would you mind sharing some of those here please?

Again, THANK YOU!

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Answer 4

Jan 17, 2021 6:28 AM in response to rtykoo

Re: how long it took before the phones didn't boot, it's hard to tell, because I ended up cycling the power quite a few times, trying to resolve the glitch, certainly a lot more than in "normal" usage. On the second one, didn't really give it a chance to get to that stage as I headed back pretty quickly to the Apple Store. On the third one, it took just over 2 days for the glitch to appear, and maybe a dozen or so cycles before the power issue showed up. Oh, and a reset (quick press on the volume up, quick press volume down, then holding down the power button) would fail as well.

The interesting thing was that installing iOS 14.4 beta 2 fixed that particular glitch, the phone would turn on, albeit with the single flash logo. It continued being able to turn on without external power after I did an update (rather than a full restore), which re-installed 14.3.

There's another couple of similar reports on this community (Using iPhone), and one on the iPhone hardware. There's a thread on MacRumors as well, with reports similar to mine, where a couple of people swapped phones after the first instance, only to have the newer phones develop this single flash logo later on. One person said it seems linked to the power charging itself, that it would manifest after the phone reaches 100% charge a couple of times. There does certainly seem to be a pattern, or some kind of trigger in any case; the phones I tried always powered on correctly the first time.

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Flashing Apple logo on power-up sequence (iPhone 12 Pro / iOS 14.3)

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