iPhone 11 Pro Any yellow tint on iPhone 11 Pro Max?

[Bradleyone]

Mine is also yellow tinted, I just can't get use to it because I'm using so many other displays that don't have this issue like my MacBook, work monitor, Apple Watch, etc..

Exactly my feeling too.

I get there are many whites, and that warmer tones are just as validly white as colder ones, and that used in isolation the uniform iPhone 11 Pros are perfectly acceptable.

However, I find it very jarring going to that screen after another device. Yes, my brain can adjust, but should it have to?

The apologists suggest Apple has deliberated calibrated them to be warmer, because they are looking out for us and saving us from the blue light meanies.

So, why hasn't it started this skew yellow crusade on other devices? Is the (LCD) iPhone 11 yellower than the iPhone XR was? Will November's iPad Pros be skewed yellow too? The MacBook Pro 16"? I really hope not.

I think it's more likely that the design of the screens themselves is the issue. Someone suggested an excess of red-green elements in this screen's OLED matrix. This year's iPhone 11 Pro screen design may just be a yellow dud.

It's odd that they regressed from last year's iPhone XS screen, which at least proved they could design a nice OLED. Maybe to get the higher nits on the 11 Pro screen they had to compromise the white balance?

They chose poorly in my view.

 

[MacDevil7334]

I ended up swapping my space gray 11 Pro for a silver at the Apple store yesterday. While I was mainly wanting a different finish (I go caseless most of the time), I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also hoping just a little that the screen on the new phone would be better than my launch day phone. Anyway, I'm going to leave my observations here, for whatever they're worth, and then do my best to quit this thread and enjoy my phone

• The screen on my new phone is a little bit more white than on my launch day phone. It's not dramatic, but it does feel like True Tone is producing more of a white and less of a yellow. When I compared side by side with my old phone in the Apple store before turning the old one in, the new one also appeared slightly more white. Again, it wasn't a dramatic difference, and my new phone is still noticeably warmer than my iPad Pro (both devices with True Tone on at the same brightness and in the same ambient lighting). However, my new phone is now white enough that am happy with it. I don't notice the warmer calibration unless I have both my phone and my iPad side by side.
• The screen on my new phone is much more even than my old one at low brightness. My old one was slightly dimmer on the right side of the screen and had a slight pinkish hue on the right when viewing gray backgrounds at low brightness. The screen on my new phone is completely even as far as I can tell. I don't know if Apple is improving QC or if I just did better in the panel lottery this time around. My sample size is way too small to draw any real conclusions here.
• At this point, I am pretty firmly of the belief that the warmer tint on the 11 Pros is deliberate. While I was waiting for an Apple employee to help me with the swap, I looked at a table that had 11s and 11 Pros right next to each other. The 11s all had a cooler calibration on their screens than did the 11 Pros. I actually think the warmer tone is more accurate. When I put both my iPad and my 11 Pro next to a piece of white paper (which is what True Tone is supposed to emulate), I find that my 11 Pro is actually closer to the white as it appears under the ambient lighting. My iPad tends to be a bit too blue. However, because most screens in the world tend to be more blue-shifted, the 11 Pro looks very yellow when compared to other screens (even other Apple devices with True Tone). I will be interested to see if Apple moves toward this warmer calibration with future devices.
  • One other comment on True Tone: someone mentioned many pages back that Apple is using a new True Tone sensor in the 11 Pro that samples 5 channels instead of 6. The only place I could find that mentioned this was The Verge's review, which cited Apple as saying this new sensor produced more accurate results. I don't know if that's true or if this was just a cost-saving measure on Apple's part. But, I will say that while I think the True Tone on my 11 Pro does seem more accurate in good broad spectrum light sources like the sun, when I put it in poorer quality light like fluorescent (which emits a smaller spectrum), True Tone on my 11 Pro really struggles. My office has warm fluorescent lighting and True Tone turns my screen way too yellow whenever I am at work. I'm not sure that the new sensor is to blame. But I do think the aggressive yellow True Tone behavior under some lighting is exacerbating the already warmer screen on the 11 Pros. When I'm out and about in broad daylight, the screen looks fine to me.
  • One further thought on the screen calibration: several different reviewers who got phones ahead of time so they could publish launch day reviews mentioned the warmer calibration of the screen. If Apple did not intend for the screens to be warmer, my guess is they would have rushed out replacement phones to these reviewers with the correct calibration. Or, at the very least, prevented the reviewers from mentioning the warmer tone in the reviews (I am assuming Apple has at least some editing power over those early reviews). The fact that several different reviewers all mentioned it and Apple allowed it to happen makes me think the warmer calibration is deliberate. There is (clearly, based on this thread) some manufacturing variance. But, you're not going to find a screen that is as cool as other Apple devices.
• For those who are tracking such things
  • My original phone was DNP (Foxconn - Chengdu), week 35 and arrived with iOS 13.0.
  • My new phone is C39 (Foxconn - Shenzhen), week 40 and arrived with iOS 13.1.1.

Hope this helps at least someone. See y'all next year for Yellowgate 2020!

 

[rockitdog]

Apple struggles with the true-tone tint on their OLEDs. They skew warmer than Samsung does for sure. I wish Apple would fix this or least have a more uniform OLED panel instead of so many variations allowed.

 

[Harthag]

are you used to disable TT? I think my panel is pretty similarnto your (fk2). I posted it above.

Here's a photo I took of my keeper Pro Max a bit ago. Max brightness, auto brightness off, TT off. The screen looks very close to my regular 11, just slightly warmer.

*Edit: took again at max brightness instead of auto brightness.

 

[BarrettF77]

Here's a photo I took of my keeper Pro Max a bit ago. Max brightness, auto brightness off, TT off. The screen looks very close to my regular 11, just slightly warmer.

*Edit: took again at max brightness instead of auto brightness.

View attachment 870090

Max brightness isn't as important as lowest brightness on a gray screen. That's a torture test if you want to see uniformity.

 

[Harthag]

Max brightness isn't as important as lowest brightness on a gray screen. That's a torture test if you want to see uniformity.

Here's the best I can do. It looks totally uniform in person. Room is pitch black and phone is at minimum brightness. Dark gray blank YouTube video.

 

[Jutah]

I took some pics from a pitch black room, max and half brightness (latest one). Keeper to me.

 

[seaw]

I’ve looked at over 30 Pro Max iPhones in Apple stores in Nyc. All of them have the same warm calibration
At this point in time it looks as though they’re all like that

When I was returning the 11 Pro at the Apple Store, was waiting at one of the desks. Grabbed the first two 11 Pro from the desk, max brightness and TT on, could clearly see a difference even under under the Apple Store light conditions. One was white one was yellow.

 

[BarrettF77]

The whites look good and the one posted above with the gray is uniform if that indeed is on the min brightness and TT turned on. That's how I'm benchmarking things. Mine is not that uniform on minimum light and TT on, but it's good enough under normal circumstances and nothing man made is ever going to be perfect. But always positive to see some getting some good panels.

 

[chillip]

I took some pics from a pitch black room, max and half brightness (latest one). Keeper to me.

Looks slighly darker on the top half than bottom. Same with post 854.

 

[Jutah]

The whites look good and the one posted above with the gray is uniform if that indeed is on the min brightness and TT turned on. That's how I'm benchmarking things. Mine is not that uniform on minimum light and TT on, but it's good enough under normal circumstances and nothing man made is ever going to be perfect. But always positive to see some getting some good panels.

If you're referring to my pics no, the TT is OFF.

Looks slighly darker on the top half than bottom. Same with post 854.

not in rl, or at least not to my eyes

 

[Bradleyone]

• At this point, I am pretty firmly of the belief that the warmer tint on the 11 Pros is deliberate. While I was waiting for an Apple employee to help me with the swap, I looked at a table that had 11s and 11 Pros right next to each other.

Deliberate as in, "This is the exact RGB balance we're going for, we want a warmer tone for these screens."

Or deliberate as in, "This is how the manufactured product of this screen design turns out. It's a little warmer than we had previously, and sometimes varies quite a bit, but we'll ship it because it would be too costly to change the design and 99.9% of our users won't know the difference."

My money's on the latter.

(I still remember with horror how I proudly showed my brand new iPad 3 with Retina display against my old iPad 2 with sandpaper-on-the-eyes pixels, and asked my mother if she saw the amazing difference. She didn't. ?‍♂️)

 

[garethjs]

yes definitely on the latter

they have no problems doing replacements it seems for the ones that bother

they figure 99% of people out there won’t bother about an inconsistent screen nor a excessively warm screen so why increase the QC and slow down output

however getting a perfect phone is like win the jackpot

U have to worry about equal brightness, u have to worry about excessive blue tint shift, you have to worry about excessive warmth, and when u find one that is decent, the colours will likely not be vibrant like your mates.

not to mention possible dust in the camera lense

pixel 4 is looking very good right now

 

[MacDevil7334]

Deliberate as in, "This is the exact RGB balance we're going for, we want a warmer tone for these screens."

Or deliberate as in, "This is how the manufactured product of this screen design turns out. It's a little warmer than we had previously, and sometimes varies quite a bit, but we'll ship it because it would be too costly to change the design and 99.9% of our users won't know the difference."

My money's on the latter.

I mean...I really doubt Apple just sees how a screen design “turns out”. Also, the 11 Pro uses the same screen tech as the Note 10 so it’s not like like it hadn’t been tested before...

At the end of the day, what does it matter why the screens have a warmer calibration? My point was that the overwhelming evidence points to it not being a fluke. You’re likely not going to find cooler screens a few weeks from now given that review phones, first launch phones, and phones from later weeks have all had a warmer calibration.

 

[kesha-antonov]

Most issues people have are minor ones / nuances. The major ones even non enthusiasts can see, such as really bad uniformity, pink color shift, and the topic of this thread, a phone that looks like someone took a piss on the screen WITH TRUE TONE OFF. Congrats on your defect free phone, other people aren't so lucky. What's the big deal if people post...on a public forum...their experiences? If people don't have any issues, awesome, move along. I don't get it when people feel the need to post in threads like this mocking those who do want to comment about their issues...

Yeah, same issue, same feeling.
I pay so much money to see yellow'ish screen?
All other my apple devices are fine - SE, XR, iPad, Macbook. All white cold.
But on iPhone 11 Pro 256Gb like somebody pissed on my phone. I think it's not acceptable.

 

[Jetcat3]

Have any of y’all read Anandtech’s review of the new iPhone’s? It pretty well explains what’s going on I feel.

 

[socceryo3]

I saw someone mention it earlier in the thread, but does anyone else feel like their fingers stick on the glass way more than they should? Like trying to swipe anything I feel like I'm just swiping my finger on window glass or something. My fingers grip the glass so much that it's noticeable. It makes things like swiping on the keyboard to type uncomfortable because there's a lot of resistance when pushing my finger to the next letter. It doesn't just glide.

 

[scrapdoo22]

Same I think they dropped the ball on the olephobic coating this year. I also have micro scratches on phone screen even while baby ing it and not having dropped it or putting it in my pockets with anything.

 

[5x10]

Mine had the warm/yellow look to it
Turned True Tone off and it’s gone!
Easy peasy

 

[Jutah]

Mine had the warm/yellow look to it
Turned True Tone off and it’s gone!
Easy peasy

?‍♂️

 

[lomka]

Since this seems to be the problem with every new iPhone over the years,
they should add RGB color adjustment sliders, like Samsung did with s8 and not leave us with those awful color filters(I understand that they might help some people with color sensitivity).

I already sent them a feature request addressing this issue, it's unlikely that they will listen, but you gotta try. If they receive large amounts of requests about the same issue, they might add it, who knows.

 

[Beamboy420]

Thanks everyone for posting. I have posted earlier about my own phone. Before I start, I just want to address the people who are asking us to turn True Tone off. Please read what’s discussed on this thread, it’s getting on my nerves at this point. Also , the same applies to anyone whose suggesting to change colour filters. I think everyone here knows about these already.

I am from Canada and I work in a corporate retailer as a Store manager. I have to get phone under contract to get my employee discount , I don’t have the liberty of buying from Apple store and exchanging multiple times. It took really long to get one mid night green 256 gb pro max and I don’t have any to exchange! Today was the last day to return. I returned it and keeping my IPhone X. I recently vacationed at Mexico, the camera and battery is just mind blowing and I am so disappointed to return it but I simply cannot keep the phone. Mine is more warmer than other pro max my customers got in other colours ( no midnight green in stock ) after comparing with multiple phones we got none of it’s proper white like my existing iPhone X or previous years iPhone XS and xs max. On the other hand every11 is absolutely gorgeous white. We have some demos in store , pro and pro max, they are better than mine but still warmer. I have seen some phones worse than mine too. I also went and checked the Apple store nearby. Same story. All are warmer that other models but mine is bit more warm. I would take the demo phones any day actually.

The problem is not that Apple decided to calibrate phones warmer but the colour temperatures are different phone to phone. There was a phone a customer activated warmer than mine. Don’t think he will ever notice but I couldn’t believe how bad it was. It looked like his night shift was on ( True Tone was off ).

I noticed this inconsistency in colour temperatures first time when I got my iPhone 5s. Years have passed and Apple still doesn’t care. I truly believe True Tone is a feature to mask this problem, indoors True Tone and night shift are literally the same thing! It’s a way to make the display more worse so you get happy with less warmer display

I have stopped caring about this much over the years since I break phones and get two replacements within 18 months and to my surprise the replacement phones always are better in this aspect. However, this time I just feel like my display isn’t just warmer , it feels like it’s dirty .. not as clear so I returned the phone.

unless I see any of my customers getting a white display I am not going to get this phone. I am even prepared to skip this year now but I refuse to pay so much for what I think is a flawed display on such an amazing phone. Love everything else but hate it too much.
I got a free galaxy s10 plus from Samsung to use and train my employees and it has a simple colour temperature adjustment. I wonder why Apple refuses to let us do the calibration we like !? If you can’t control quality of the hardware atleast give that option in software.

And I am not alone. Everyone in my store saw the difference. Once someone notices this they can’t stop noticing it. They are apprehensive of upgrading to the new phones this year.
Am going to wait and see how it improves over time and if it does I will get it.
One thing I never noticed in any phones is the shift in colours from top to bottom. That’s completely new to me. Uniformity in display is something I never notice but a dull yellow display I always do notice.
Oh I can also confirm after 15 days of usage nothing changed , I was hoping the glue drying theory was true. I don’t think it is !

 

[5x10]

I will say the whites on this screen aren’t the same as my iPad Pro 12.9 3rd gen
With True Tone on, the whites appear with a yellow tint
with true tone off, the whites appear more blue than my ipad

the lcd screen gives a more true white than this phone

 

[Ron21]

Thanks everyone for posting. I have posted earlier about my own phone. Before I start, I just want to address the people who are asking us to turn True Tone off. Please read what’s discussed on this thread, it’s getting on my nerves at this point. Also , the same applies to anyone whose suggesting to change colour filters. I think everyone here knows about these already.

I am from Canada and I work in a corporate retailer as a Store manager. I have to get phone under contract to get my employee discount , I don’t have the liberty of buying from Apple store and exchanging multiple times. It took really long to get one mid night green 256 gb pro max and I don’t have any to exchange! Today was the last day to return. I returned it and keeping my IPhone X. I recently vacationed at Mexico, the camera and battery is just mind blowing and I am so disappointed to return it but I simply cannot keep the phone. Mine is more warmer than other pro max my customers got in other colours ( no midnight green in stock ) after comparing with multiple phones we got none of it’s proper white like my existing iPhone X or previous years iPhone XS and xs max. On the other hand every11 is absolutely gorgeous white. We have some demos in store , pro and pro max, they are better than mine but still warmer. I have seen some phones worse than mine too. I also went and checked the Apple store nearby. Same story. All are warmer that other models but mine is bit more warm. I would take the demo phones any day actually.

The problem is not that Apple decided to calibrate phones warmer but the colour temperatures are different phone to phone. There was a phone a customer activated warmer than mine. Don’t think he will ever notice but I couldn’t believe how bad it was. It looked like his night shift was on ( True Tone was off ).

I noticed this inconsistency in colour temperatures first time when I got my iPhone 5s. Years have passed and Apple still doesn’t care. I truly believe True Tone is a feature to mask this problem, indoors True Tone and night shift are literally the same thing! It’s a way to make the display more worse so you get happy with less warmer display

I have stopped caring about this much over the years since I break phones and get two replacements within 18 months and to my surprise the replacement phones always are better in this aspect. However, this time I just feel like my display isn’t just warmer , it feels like it’s dirty .. not as clear so I returned the phone.

unless I see any of my customers getting a white display I am not going to get this phone. I am even prepared to skip this year now but I refuse to pay so much for what I think is a flawed display on such an amazing phone. Love everything else but hate it too much.
I got a free galaxy s10 plus from Samsung to use and train my employees and it has a simple colour temperature adjustment. I wonder why Apple refuses to let us do the calibration we like !? If you can’t control quality of the hardware atleast give that option in software.

And I am not alone. Everyone in my store saw the difference. Once someone notices this they can’t stop noticing it. They are apprehensive of upgrading to the new phones this year.
Am going to wait and see how it improves over time and if it does I will get it.
One thing I never noticed in any phones is the shift in colours from top to bottom. That’s completely new to me. Uniformity in display is something I never notice but a dull yellow display I always do notice.
Oh I can also confirm after 15 days of usage nothing changed , I was hoping the glue drying theory was true. I don’t think it is !

Thanks for summing it up so well, I couldn't agree any more with all the points you made! I also think true tone is partly a way for Apple to mask lower quality displays, QC and overall display variances.

Unfortunately, I don't think we are going to see any changes in the future, it's been this way for many years now.

 

[m0sher]

Have any of y’all read Anandtech’s review of the new iPhone’s? It pretty well explains what’s going on I feel.

I did.

In the greyscale tests, all the iPhones perform extremely well, as expected. The Pro models do showcase a tendency to have slightly too strong red levels, so their color temperature is ever so slightly too warm. This characteristic diminishes the higher in brightness we go on the Pro models. The iPhone 11 has a weakness in the greens, so its color temperature is a above the 6500K white point target.

The Apple iPhone 11, 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max Review: Performance, Battery, & Camera Elevated

www.anandtech.com

Makes perfect sense. Had mine for a week now, many hours starring at my screen, nothing wrong with uniformity either. I love my 11 Pro Max.