iPhone 5S bad quality screen compared to iPhone 5

I got one with the annoying interlacing too! I can't believe that without Jobs Apple is going worse. I think Apple shoould ackknowledge this issue.

I also got affected by the interlacing problem. This is what happened:

My first iPhone 5S had a serial number that started with C39 and had a perfect screen, no interlacing and flickering at all (I knew where to look at since I had a iPhone 5 with interlaced screen before). After some weeks the glue on the display glass was bad, so the glass moved and I had to go for a repair. Since they can't repair any display defects on the iPhone 5S (thanks to TouchID) they offered me a replacement. The replacement I received had a serial number that started with DNP and had the worst display I have seen in the last few years. The lines were visible everywhere and all the time, which caused me headache and dizziness if I looked at the display for some minutes. I tried the test image and it flickered like ****. So I went back to the Apple Store for a new replacement. Luckily the Genius saw the lines as well and agreed instantly that this should not be. So he switched the iPhone again and my new model had a serial number that started with F2L. It had a slightly better screen than the DNP model but the lines were still visible to me and the test image still flickered. The genius offered me again to replace the iPhone as he still agreed that the display isn't as it should be. I insisted to get a replacement that starts with C again, since my first iPhone was the only one with a good screen. The genius then brought me a replacement with a serial that starts with C39 and tataaaa I finally got an iPhone with a perfect screen again (no visible interlacing lines and no flickering with the test image)!

I checked almost every iPhone 5S and also 5C in my local Apple Store (I tried like 20 phones and also 2 personal phones of 2 geniuses) and ALL of them had the interlaced lines and flickering! Also interesting was that all of these phones had serial numbers that started with F or D, there was no one with a C serial number.

The genius promised me he will report this internally to Apple/his bosses but couldn't tell me what/if Apple will do about this in the future.

So far I'm happy I got a good screen again and I was really happy with the genius since he took my problem with the iPhone seriously since the beginning and tried everything to find a solution. But on the other hand I'm really disappointed with Apple. I payed a lot for this phone (I bought it without contract) and for that price I expect a far better quality.

You are very lucky your Genius let you go through so many. My "display saga" was stretched over the course of over a year. I've had five F2's and they all had interlacing. The first DN one had a perfect screen, but had dust under the screen. My two friends had DN's with perfect screens, but they also had to be replaced for signal problems. My final phone with a good screen is a DQ.

I'm not going to say Apple's quality has gotten worse since I've always had problems with their iPods, and Macbook Pros. It's more like the problems are more noticed as their products are more mainstream.

I hope you didn't understand me wrong. The 20 phones I tried weren't replacement, these were the phones displayed in the Apple Store. :-) Actually I had my original 5S (no lines), and three replacments (two of them had lines). I really hope my latest replacment won't get any problem since I don't wanna go through this panel lottery anymore.

I just got my iPhone 5S today. It was a used one that the person picked up back in September. It has the F2L serial number and it has the interlacing problem and flickering. The screen is also a bit yellowish. It's not the worst of what I've seen... but it's definitely not a perfect one.

I thought it would be good if people would use this site to check their serial number: http://sndeep.info/en

It will tell you the factory the phone came from and the manufacturing date. I'm not sure if every 5S comes from the same factory. But manufacturing date could definitely be an indicator.

Factory: F2L - China, Zhengzhou - Foxconn

• Year: 2013
• Week: 37 (09.09 - 15.09)
• Age: 3 months

The strange thing is my iPhone 5 has a perfect screen. But when I first bought it I found the screen to be a bit warmer/yellower than my iPod Touch 5th Gen. Yet months after owning the iPhone 5 the screen is now what I consider perfect... especially after seeing the 5S screen. Is it possible these crappy screens might fix themselves over time?

I got the same serial number replacement phone like yours! And they are really having the WORST quality display ever... I replaced 4 units and could never get a good one...

Which one was the serial with the worst display ever, DN, F2 or C3? The two C3 phones I saw had good screens, the DN was absolutely horrible and the F2 sightly better than DN but still visible interlacing. Recently I wanted to buy a 2nd iPhone 5S (one for my girlfriend). Unfortunately in my local Apple Store they only have DN serials right now, and as far as I saw them, all had the interlacing issue. I had to leave without buying the iPhone...

Did you try a C3 serial? I don't think that generally one serial (fabric) is affected and another isn't. But I'm pretty sure when the store get a delivery, all the iPhone inside the same package were produced in the same bunch and therefore most probably use the same panel (made by the same manufacturer). That's why it looks very realistic to me that one store only has poor quality display iPhones (maybe a few hunderts of them) and another store has only the good display iPhones. The problem is, if your Apple Store recieved the bad bunch, then chances to get a good replacement aren't too high for the moment.

Those which started with DN. My first phone was started with C3xxxx which has perfect display quality. But some of my friends who are having the phone with C3xxxxx serial number are facing the vertical lines issue also. But theirs are better and not so obvious as the DN one. They wouldn't notice it until I compare my perfect display phone with their flawed display. 😟

Oke I thought I was the only one that noticed the vertical lines. So what is the best way to deal with this. Will it be solved by software or is hardware replacement the only solution.

I got mine replaced for the yellow tint and vertical line issues. It also had a rattling power button. We went through 3 replacements while sitting there because each one he brought out had the same yellow tint issue.

However, there was one that at least didn't have the vertical line issue. There was no weird grid pattern around pixels and I even Airdropped the "flicker test image" from my iPhone 5 to the replacement to see if it flickered and it didn't. The other 2 did flicker and they had "DN" serial numbers. The replacement I got without the vertical lines was "F1" (not F2).

I checked EVERY single floor model and they all had yellow tinted screens despite having various serial # indicator digits. All the ones I saw had vertical lines too so I practically got lucky that I found one that didn't.

But it still has a slight yellow tint. The Apple guy claimed that this goes away over time... but the floor models have been there since launch day AND have been in use 24/7 and they are still yellow. So clearly BULLCRAP. Apple is trying to sneak in crappy LCD panels into certain factories and just hoping nobody notices. Probably because this loud clicky Touch ID cost so much to implement.

I've found that if I stop comparing it to my iPhone 5 and just start using the 5S exclusively the tint tends to look normal to me now. Now it seems like this screen is okay. It also might have improved a bit over time but I don't know if I'm fooling myself.

But then when I got home the replacement 5S home button is making a loud annoying clicking sound. The power button still rattles (all 4 models did this). The first 5S clicked but not as bad as this one. I'm just fed up with the 5S really.... this is the first time where something that was usually a defect has turned into a random lottery.

It's like impossible to find a perfect iPhone 5S....which is just sad and pathetic. I'm thinking Foxconn employees have been tampering with the products in retaliation for low pay.

I went through 3 iphone 5S phones (and many more at the store) before I found one that did not have this problem. The Apple store employee made sure to get a phone with a serial number that started with F when I went back to replace my second phone.

It's possible Apple could fix this with a software update but it seems like a hardware/display/manufacturing issue. More than half of the 5S models at my local Apple store had these vertical scan lines. They are most noticeable on a gray background with the display turned up.

This is a test image I used from a macrumors discussion group that helped me explain the problem to the Apple store employee:

http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=445826&d=1383770016

When viewed on an iphone 5S with this issue, the image causes a strobing effect as the vertical lines pass over the image.

Yea, I think they probably thought no one would notice this... Btw, not everyone could see the verticle line... Eg. my mom and some of my friends... They are just dont have good eye sight like us... x( And the yellow tint issue is normal, my ASP told me he and his collegue's phones are all having different level kinda yellow tint issue... ;/ I'd rather have a perfect retina display than a touch ID home button...

Well, here an update about my story with the "scan lines/interlaced lines":

I wanted to buy a golden 64GB 5S for my girlfriend. Unfortunately at the local Apple Store they weren't able to give me one without the visible lines. All the phones they had there had a DN serial and bad displays.

Really upset about the Apple Store I went to a store of the biggest local provider and bought a golden 64GB 5S there (since they also have a 14 days money back policy). They also only had DN serials since it looks like at the time 99% of the iPhones 5S available in my country have a DN serial. The big surprise was, the phone I bought had an absolutely perfect screen! No visible lines at all and no flickering with the test image. My eyes are very trained by now, I see in few seconds if the screen has the lines or not (just looking at the settings and mail icon is enough). But the screen of the 5S I bought today IS perfect, the way every retina screen should be. I checked the serial at chipmunk and saw that the phone was made in December! I don't know if this time I was just lucky in the panel lottery, or maybe (even if they would never admit it officially) Apple did realize the quality issue and changed something so therefore the new production has good displays.

All the DN serials I saw before were really bad (much worse than the F1 and F2), but all of them were made in September. The good serials which I saw and were made in September started with C39.

I'm really wondering if all iPhones made in December or later now have good displays or not.

Our 32GB iPhone 5s (gold) bought Dec. 9 from Apple online has an F2 serial # and a perfect display, just for the record.

Did you try the test image and it didnt flicker? Because the display only is perfect if it doesnt flicker with that image. If it flickers, the display has the lines, even if most people would not see/notice them.

This is the test image: http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=445826&d=1383770016

If it doesnt flicker, could you check and post when your phone was made, please? You can check this here (just enter aour serial number): http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html