iPhone screen dims randomly

I appear to be having the same problem as many other new users of the iPhone X- only had 4 days and it appears to heat up and the display dims significantly fine all the obvious things and also contacted Apple who said they have never heard of this! Simply don’t know what to do now- this phone cost so much money too. Am becoming very frustrated

Any advice would be much appreciated.

So here is my update. I went to the Apple store today and they swapped out my iPhone X. It’s been five hours and I have not had the issue yet. However, I haven’t done any heavy use and haven’t been plugged into a charger with a slightly higher amperage. It happens more often when that occurs. We’ll see and I’ll keep you posted.

Hi David, have you had a chance to check out my youtube video. Also remove case if you have one and also remember that our new iPhone X is using the OLED technology instead of LCD now, so settings have changed, especially around black and white points.

https://youtu.be/Pn36GGLspEg

Shawn.

I just received a call from my advisor and this is what I was told. Basically the phone is getting hot and it needs to dim the screen to keep it cool and the phone is balancing the settings I have on to keep cool. I explained to her that this has happened in as little a 3 minutes of using it in my car and she said if the car is hot then that will affect it.

Problem with that is this has happened in winter in Wisconsin at temps below 30 degrees so I really don’t buy that explanation.

I also told her what has happened to others in this thread. I think this is a bigger issue, however, I don’t think we will ever get this resolved.

I’ve used the iPhone 6 & 7 the same way on 12 plus hour road trips and not once have those screens dimmed.

I hope someone else on this thread has better luck.

Trpl4

I have the same problem with 2 iPhoneXs. Tested both units for”overheating problem” by positioning iphones right over vent with AC on. Check temp with digital thermometer. at the moment of dimming surface temp was 18С (70F) and 20C. Quite possible that is a problems with defective temp sensors and / or software settings.

I had mine replaced last Friday. The screen dimming issue does happen with this new one, but far less and far less severe. The whole phone seems more responsive, actually. I’ve had some moderate dimming while connected to a 2.4a power source, but it’s msybe happened once for a few minutes since. The phone seems to run cooler.

Apple Inc. is not going to take responsibility for this issue! I have received two new iPhone X’s and they both including the original will DIM for no apparent reason. Obviously, this is an ongoing problem by the number of people having this issue And commenting on this thread. It’s an absolute shame that you pay $1200 for a phone that I cannot use outdoors!!!

I have a feeling you are right. I think this is totally unacceptable. 70 degree surface temperature and the phone dims??!!! That is not even hot and the phone should not be “over heating” at that temperature.

Basically what I got back from Apple is to keep the phone in acceptable opertating temperature.

I explained to the advisor that after using my X for 3 minutes on my dash how can that not be acceptable operating temperature?

As previously stated, I have used the iPhone 6 & 7 for over 12 hours in June from Wisconsin to Tennessee using Waze and not once did the phones dim.

My wife who is using an iPhone 6 is starting to experience this same issue indoors. She isn’t doing anything but surfing the web, nothing graphics/processor intensive.

My issue doesn't seem as severe as yours. My first phone would dim under load, usually when plugged in, especially to a 2.4a (vs. 2.1a) backup battery pack. My new one does dim a bit at times, but it doesn't seem as bad. It's not as frequent or as severe.

I had the issue with my iPhone 6s and 7. I did not have it with the 6. I'd say the issue was even worse with the iPhone 6s and 7, though my first X was pretty bad. This one is nearly a week old and it's better (but it still does happen to an extent).

I really suspect this is a heat issue/safety feature. Well, Apple, what is the point of putting this amazing, high performance processors in your devices if you can't use them because the screen dims?

Maybe I was lucky with my 6 & 7 or didn’t notice it? I just recently noticed it with the X.

It is odd that it affects people differently. For instance mine only dims while using Waze and my X is on the dash. My wife, who uses the 6 will be on the couch reading and hers dims. She will be in the car, reading and it dims. Others have stated just going outside in the direct sunlight causes it to dim immediately.

That’s why I’m not sure if it is a heat issue or software/hardware issue. Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever get to the bottom of this issue.

Well, here's another update: Phone was replaced last Friday. It moderately dimmed a few times briefly, but it seemed much better overall (not as frequent, not as much dimming). Well, last night I was using it connected to a 2.4a power source. Sure enough, it dimmed significantly (30% or so) and stayed like that for several minutes. It finally brightened back up when I started doing less intensive things.

I am absolutely convinced this is some sort of heat issue, be it a bug or feature to protect various components. The problem is that Apple won't acknowledge it. Get ready for the class action suits, I guess. By that time I'll have an iPhone 12 or whatever.

I tried to create a case in this issue to raise awareness to the engineers but I couldn’t force it to happen or share it while on the phone. I did happen to record it using video the other day so when I go to “replace my iPhone X ” which will not work, I’ll be able to share the video and also send it the engineers. For the first time ever, I noticed it happen on my work iPhone 8 today. 🤔 A funny coincidence, today is also one of the first times I’ve used Waze on that phone....

This has also happened on my 7 plus pretty much after iOS 11. It’s def a software bug (possibly intentional). We’ll see what happens.

(Sorry for the rambling!)

Did you by chance try one of the now obvious first steps and turn off Auto Brightness in Display Accommodations as well as turn off reduce white point in that same menu.

Also try disabling the Require Attention for Face ID and the Attention Aware Features which play active roles in dimming.

See if that helps. I am not having the dimming issues with my iPhone X any longer and i have several settings disable. However it will dim slightly if on my dash with Waze on a sunny warm day, and the phone starts to get pretty hot, but I just push the air conditioning up to the font window and it brightens a few minutes later.

Hope this helps a little.

This is also happening to me. Initially I thought I was just imagining things. Then I thought it was google map specific but it also happen in iOS map. Now that people mention about heating, I do notice my phone is quite hot and things are sluggish. I have the otter box commuters case on my iPhone. Outer temperature is about 98 Fahrenheit, I do have AC blast in my car. Glad to know this issue is not just my phone, hopefully the next iOS will fix it. I rely on gps heavily. Restarting phone and enter password due to restart to fix brightness is quite dangerous while driving. [i do have auto brightness disabled under display accomodation]

Anyone experience this issue going no case?