iPhone 4S screen tint

Just got the black flagship 64 gig 4s. Compared it to my 32 gig black 4 (both early phones). Huge difference in contrast and hue. 4s much more yellow and I don't like it. Co-worker has 32 gig white 4s. Contrast and hue identical to my old 4. All theories as to why this might be aside, if this in fact, due to two different screen suppliers, why in the world would Apple not require that the specs be identical? Can't imagine that Apple would allow this intentionally. Who knows, maybe it's the blue screens that aren't dry and in two weeks, they will all burn in yellow! At least they will all match again!

I posted last night about this. When I kept getting yellow screens with my 4, I kept sending replacements back, because I wanted to find that magic "blue" hue. Forturnately, I was working with a very patient Apple Executive customer relations, who kept allowing me to send phones back until I could find one. I found with every one that came, I was getting pickier and more critical of the screens. I hadn't compared my 4 that I kept with my 4s until I read this thread. Like I said last night, I can see a slight difference. Everyone I show it to, says they think the screen on the 4s looks better than the 4. It is a different phone on the inside. I have decided that I can't compare models of phones with each other. Good luck in your search to find a screen you can be happy with and don't get sucked in by the talk. I learned my lesson last year.

3 people in my family all got black iPhone 4S and they all have varying degrees of different yellow tint. My wife's is especially bad. As a photographer, I think this yellow tint looks horrible. I love eveything about the phone except for this. The screen in my iPhone 4 was nice, white and crisp.

I really really hope this is some glue issue based on the fact that each screen on all 3 phones have such a wide range of yellow.

I really hope Apple chimes in. Hoping to go to the Apple store and check out the displays on hand. Wish we got the white as people are saying they don't have the issue.

Just remember, white is relative. I'm not saying there isn't a problem with some phones. But if you hold a cooler screen next to a warmer one and take a poll, subjectively more people will call the cooler one "white". But the fact is that there is no white, everything is relative, and without a point of comparison our eyes will adjust. They do it all the time. A white piece of paper is a completely different color in the sunlight than it is under incandescent light. We call them both white, but hold a piece of paper half in sunlight and half under a lamp and the warmer white will look yellow.

Maybe some phones have a problem, but don't rush to conclude that yours is defective just because it's a bit warmer than your old 4.

You are wrong with your paper analogy, white paper doesn't emit light, it reflects it. If you look at it under the light of a red (green, blue, etc) lamp in a dark room, then it would seem to be red, but it doesn't mean that red (green, blue, etc) equals to white. While any computer or phone screen emits light by itself, so in a dark room you will see the true colors of its screen. And human eye, while being faulty, is still a pretty good optical instrument, so when you turn on a bright yellow lamp in a dark room, then it is, well, indeed yellow color, and not "wait for it, it becomes white in a few days".

No, I'm not wrong with my analogy. I'm dead spot on. Incandescent light is not white light through a yellow filter. It's white light. It's just a different temperature light. Warmer light sources look yellow depending on how bright they burn. But look at a 300W bulb and tell me what color it is. And the sun? It looks yellow in my 3 yo son's drawings, but it's as white as white can be, yet a much cooler light source than a light bulb. So here we have two different temperatures of light reflected (admittedly) off "white" paper (which itself has cool or warm characteristics). Side by side, they appear different colors, relatively.

What you're talking about filtered light that absorbs part of the light spectrum so that only yellow (or whatever the filter color) light is passing through. So of course in your case, nothing would ever appear white, because there's only yellow. If what you're saying were correct, we would never perceive the color white from a desk lamp. But we do, because it's all there.

My analogy and explanation holds true for reflected light on paper as well as emitted light from a screen (albeit in an opposite fashion, additive vs subtractive). Computer monitors emit red, green and blue light balanced for a particular point in what we consider, subjectively, white light. Change that balance, and you get a different cast. A monitor with a yellowish cast isn't yellow because of filtration, but rather because it's balanced differently than a blue monitor. You may think it's nowhere near correct if it's far enough off balance, but that doesn't mean it's defective. Particularly when held beside a screen that's unbalanced in the opposite direction, the effect will be exaggerated. So people start to say it's yellow, which it is, relatively.

What we're seeing with the possibly defective iPhones is most likely, in most cases, a differently balanced white. But like I said, given the choice between warm white and cool white, most people claim the cool white is "whiter".

This whole "Yellowgate" mess has now made the news internationally. Still no comment from Apple.

After almost a week of use my 4S is definitely still yellow compared to others. I have so far compared 50+ iPhones at various Apple Stores and spoke to several genuises. None of the store display models I checked had a yellow tint. The geniuses agreed that my screen is yellow but they can't replace it because the phone is not broken.

They suggested sending it back to the Apple online store where I bought it and hope that they're sending me one that's not yellow. That's a hassle!

I would think that this could be easily fixed via firmware update if it's just a matter of balancing the light differently.

Apple usually doesn't comment on this type of thing. They'll either fix it or they won't, or say something after the dust has settled. You have AppleCare with your new phone, so I'd suggest calling tech support and seeing what they can do. You'll probably have to send it back, but you may be able to get them to advance you a replacement if you explain that it's critical for you to not be without a phone.

The phone itself may not be defective, but the DISPLAY is defective. People globally are complaining about the same issue, this is not something we are pleased with. Apple should give us replacement phones or some kind of compensation. How could an anomaly of this magnitude even make it to the conveyer belt without someone noticing? Two different display manufacturers and no one notices, no one checks, this is not what I expect from Apple.

I compared once again this morning to my old iPhone 4. Strange... When I first compared the 2, my iPhone 4 seemed brighter. Now my iPhone 4S is definitely brighter. On top of that the iPhone 4S screen seemed more like a real white where the iPhone 4 seemed to have too much of a blue tint.

Now I really don't know what to think. LOL

Just an update on my own experience with "yellowgate".

Went to the Apple Store in NYC today and spoke to two different geniuses about the issue. They had both heard of it.

According to them (and they both said the same thing), the yellow screen is "normal" for freshly made phones and the screen "just needs about two to three weeks to set". I took my old iphone 4 so they could see the yellowing and we all agreed it was there.

One of them said the exact same thing happened with the first batch of iphone 4 and that eventually the yellowing disappeared over time. I thought this was bs because I received my iphone 4 at launch and the screen was perfect.

In any case, they both agreed that if the yellowing didn't go away "within a few weeks" I could bring it in and have it swapped no questions asked.

I am taking this with a huge grain of salt....

Probably wait one more week and compare the 4 vs 4s and report back. If not an exchange is on the way....

cheers

I got my iPhone 4s on launch day, last week and immediantly notice a slight yellow tint to the screen, especialy when compared to my iPhone 4. Side by side, the 4s screen looked a little washed out as well. Now, almost a full week later, I just compared the two side by side again. Now, I'm really confused! I actually prefer the 4s screen over the 4 screen! lol...Whites look more "white" on the 4s screen and the 4s screen is definetly brighter, across the entire range of the brightness scale in settings. Granted, I could just be getting used to the new screen so I showed both to my girlfriend and she said she also preferred the screen on the 4s...

Maybe it's true there is a certain amount of settling in time for these new units comiing out of the factories...not sure at all. I purchased Applecare+ when I got the 4s so I think I'll hold on to it now. In a few weeks when my local apple store actually has some in stock (and sold through the initial batches), I'll take a stroll in and compare my screen to theirs to see if mine is indeed "yellow"...

If you own both the 4 and 4s, maybe compare both while viewing this RGB image and post what you see...

http://processing.org/learning/color/imgs/rgb.png

I'm having the same experience. After looking at the "warmer" iPhone 4S display for a few days, the iPhone 4 screen looks markedly blue, and the white is more of a pink. I still like the higher contrast on the original 4 better, but overall, I think the 4S color balance will win out.

If you really want to compare the screens, I suggest opening Maps and comparing the images side by side. The 4S screen definitely fails in the contrast department, with little differentiation between the greys, yellows, and beiges--all looks sort of the same. On the 4, though, the maps look stellar. So far this is the biggest annoyance for me, as I like my maps to be readily legible (which means contrast).

Other than that, though, in day to day use I don't notice it much. Still, the side-by-side (with old iPhone4 as well as non-yellow 4S) leaves me feeling a little screwed--like I took a massive step down in screen quality. the fact that I "get used to it" shouldn't be the bar on the screen of Apple's newest baby...

With respect to the posts that describe differences between two different iP4S phones, it is possible that *in some cases* differences in the date of production (which could be significant) could explain why one screen is "warmer" and the other is "cooler." You can't produce 4MM phones in a couple of weeks - some of these must have been in inventory for quite a while, and some are probably fresh off the line.

OTOH, different manufacturers' displays almost always show some difference in various factors that affect color rendition, so that's also a possibility.

Just got my phone in and made the mistake of comparing the phone to my friends iPhone 4 and yes, there is a notable difference. It does have a "warmer" look compared to the to 4 along with the washed out colors. I hope, as people have suggested, this gets resolved over the next 2-3 weeks by itself. Otherwise...back to the store and will trade in based on warranty.