iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 (Pro) dizziness / nausea Problems?

[QuattroRS6]

Hello,

sorry for my bad English, did anyone also feel dizziness with the new iPhone 12 (Pro) Models?

I got my iPhone 12 on Friday and after a few minutes I immediately felt nausea. When I used it yesterday in the day it was fine, but then in the evening when the display lighting dims down I immediately felt this nausea again. I've owned all the iPhone models out there, I've never had problems like this.

I read here in the Forums, this could be because of the PWM OLED Flickering, so it seems like i must return my iPhone 12 Pro, what makes me sad. But luckily, I'm happy with my iphone 11 pro too.

 

[Nozuka]

That's weird.. besides the size, the 11 Pro and 12 Pro display should be pretty much the same.

 

[oVerboost]

12 Pro I can’t see causing it any more than the 11 Pro did. You sure it’s not just because you’ve been using it a lot more because it’s new?

 

[Samut]

Sounds like PWM. You could try keeping brightness slightly higher at the evening as PWM has higher strength at low brightness settings.

 

[QuattroRS6]

12 Pro I can’t see causing it any more than the 11 Pro did. You sure it’s not just because you’ve been using it a lot more because it’s new?

I can hold the 11 Pro in front of me and read some Mails or Tweets for 30 Minutes without any Problem, if i hold the 12 Pro in front of my Face i immediately have this uncomfortable Feeling and then the dizziness comes.

I filmed it with a Highspeed Cam (https://youtu.be/8SLkp6fU9IA) in the Darkness and i saw that the wandering Bars from the Refresh of the Screen going from from the bottom to the top at the 11 Pro, but from top to the bottom at the 12 Pro. And on Second 0:22 you see, that it seems like the "Bar" stops on the iPhone 12.

 

[crawltochina]

I noticed the same. With the iPhone 12 Pro my eyes felt dry after very short time of usage and i always had problems focussing. I also have an iPhone 12 (non Pro) and have absolutely NO issues with this model. I wanted to keep the 12 Pro but had to return it because of the issue. I'm giving it another try and ordered another 12 Pro. If i have the same problems with the new 12 Pro i'm just keeping the regular 12 which is also great btw.

The displays seem to be different!

 

[Kent viggo]

I felt nothing like this with my 12 pro. Some people seem to be sensitive to the OLED screens for some reason.

 

[QuattroRS6]

I noticed the same. With the iPhone 12 Pro my eyes felt dry after very short time of usage and i always had problems focussing. I also have an iPhone 12 (non Pro) and have absolutely NO issues with this model. I wanted to keep the 12 Pro but had to return it because of the issue. I'm giving it another try and ordered another 12 Pro. If i have the same problems with the new 12 Pro i'm just keeping the regular 12 which is also great btw.

The displays seem to be different!

Many thanks for this notice, its verry interesting for me, because like i read in the past the OLED Panels from the normal iPhone 12 should be from LG and the iPhone 12 Pro has Panels from Samsung. In the upcoming weeks BOE should also deliver OLED Panels for the iPhone 12 Production but i dont know if they are for the Pro Version or the normal iPhone 12.

 

[gigapocket1]

I just started putting two and two together. I’m pretty sure my dizziness and nauseous feeling I’ve had for the last two weeks started from when I got the 12 pro max

 

[PepeG]

Hello,

sorry for my bad English, did anyone also feel dizziness with the new iPhone 12 (Pro) Models?

I got my iPhone 12 on Friday and after a few minutes I immediately felt nausea. When I used it yesterday in the day it was fine, but then in the evening when the display lighting dims down I immediately felt this nausea again. I've owned all the iPhone models out there, I've never had problems like this.

I read here in the Forums, this could be because of the PWM OLED Flickering, so it seems like i must return my iPhone 12 Pro, what makes me sad. But luckily, I'm happy with my iphone 11 pro too.

I've had the same experience. But I think it's the new antenna array with the phone. I've noticed when I turn on tethering (Personal hotspot) that it's much worse. If I'm feeling nauseous, I immediately check to see if I left my hotspot on. And sure enough, yes. I have no way to test EMFs for this theory. But I noticed it as soon as I started using the iPhone 12 pro a few weeks ago when I got it. I've had zero problems with iPhone 11 Pro.

 

[QuattroRS6]

I found many People who have the same Problem, also some Clients from me, they send their iPhones back. But in my Opinion its because of the PWM Flickering. If you see the Values from the Flicker-Index, everything below 20% Brightness is verry bad compared to the iPhone 11 Pro and i think this is the reason, why i have no Problems with my 11 Pro.

 

[PepeG]

I found many People who have the same Problem, also some Clients from me, they send their iPhones back. But in my Opinion its because of the PWM Flickering. If you see the Values from the Flicker-Index, everything below 20% Brightness is verry bad compared to the iPhone 11 Pro and i think this is the reason, why i have no Problems with my 11 Pro.

I got my Nausea was when the phone was off. That's why I turned it on to see if anything was odd. That's when I discovered the hotspot was on. Hence my theory.

 

[lordhamster]

Hello,

sorry for my bad English, did anyone also feel dizziness with the new iPhone 12 (Pro) Models?

I got my iPhone 12 on Friday and after a few minutes I immediately felt nausea. When I used it yesterday in the day it was fine, but then in the evening when the display lighting dims down I immediately felt this nausea again. I've owned all the iPhone models out there, I've never had problems like this.

I read here in the Forums, this could be because of the PWM OLED Flickering, so it seems like i must return my iPhone 12 Pro, what makes me sad. But luckily, I'm happy with my iphone 11 pro too.

I had a very similar issue with my Pro Max! When I got it on launch day at about 6:30pm I opened the box, poured myself a glass of Lagavulin scotch and started setting it up. I spent about 4 hours playing with the phone that night, and enjoyed a few more nice glasses of scotch in the process. At around the 3 hour mark, I started getting a bit dizzy and even experiencing slurred speech. By the end of the four hours, I was so dizzy that I even spilled my scotch. I figured perhaps it was because I hadn't turned on "night mode." I went to bed and woke up with a nasty headache the next morning. Perhaps the PVM flicker got me?

 

[Givmeabrek]

I had a very similar issue with my Pro Max! When I got it on launch day at about 6:30pm I opened the box, poured myself a glass of Lagavulin scotch and started setting it up. I spent about 4 hours playing with the phone that night, and enjoyed a few more nice glasses of scotch in the process. At around the 3 hour mark, I started getting a bit dizzy and even experiencing slurred speech. By the end of the four hours, I was so dizzy that I even spilled my scotch. I figured perhaps it was because I hadn't turned on "night mode." I went to bed and woke up with a nasty headache the next morning. Perhaps the PVM flicker got me?

Have another drink. Problem solved...

 

[widetyres]

I got my Nausea was when the phone was off. That's why I turned it on to see if anything was odd. That's when I discovered the hotspot was on. Hence my theory.

I agree that this is probably an EMF issue.

I have some noticeable sensitivity to strong EMF, but am fine with most phones (e.g. no issues with my previous iPhone 6, Google Pixel or Samsung A40).

The iPhone 12 Pro though, is proving to be a bit of a nightmare. Just having it in my pocket makes me feel a bit weird.

The first night I slept with it on my bedside table and had the most horrendous nights sleep - the interesting thing was that was whilst the phone was in airplane mode!!!

Either:
1) I was over-sensitised from having the phone on me during the day
2) There is some signal the phone is emitting that ignores the airplane setting
3) It is something to do with the MagSafe magnets - I understand that there are strong magnets inside the phone (in addition to magnets on whatever it connects to).

I will have to do some experiments to work it out.

 

[widetyres]

I agree that this is probably an EMF issue.

I have some noticeable sensitivity to strong EMF, but am fine with most phones (e.g. no issues with my previous iPhone 6, Google Pixel or Samsung A40).

The iPhone 12 Pro though, is proving to be a bit of a nightmare. Just having it in my pocket makes me feel a bit weird.

The first night I slept with it on my bedside table and had the most horrendous nights sleep - the interesting thing was that was whilst the phone was in airplane mode!!!

Either:
1) I was over-sensitised from having the phone on me during the day
2) There is some signal the phone is emitting that ignores the airplane setting
3) It is something to do with the MagSafe magnets - I understand that there are strong magnets inside the phone (in addition to magnets on whatever it connects to).

I will have to do some experiments to work it out.

I had the phone in my pocket yesterday (turned on, but in airplane mode) for 30 mins and no issues.
I then turned on Wifi and used the phone to browse the Internet - within 10 mins I was not feeling so good. I could even see it my face that I wasn't right (in the reflection in a nearby mirror). The phone didn't have a SIM card in it during this test.

Additionally, when I initially experienced this issue, I thought it might be 5G related and limited the phone to 4G in the settings, but it made no difference.

Therefore, the issue is probably related to the Wifi module or screen. The phone is being sent back - pity as I think it would have been a good phone if it had not been for this issue.

It would be interesting to know if the wifi modules are the same between 12 pro and 12 std phones. Given that some say they have no issue with the 12 std, if they are the same, that would definitively suggest that the PWM.

 

[widetyres]

I had the phone in my pocket yesterday (turned on, but in airplane mode) for 30 mins and no issues.
I then turned on Wifi and used the phone to browse the Internet - within 10 mins I was not feeling so good. I could even see it my face that I wasn't right (in the reflection in a nearby mirror). The phone didn't have a SIM card in it during this test.

Additionally, when I initially experienced this issue, I thought it might be 5G related and limited the phone to 4G in the settings, but it made no difference.

Therefore, the issue is probably related to the Wifi module or screen. The phone is being sent back - pity as I think it would have been a good phone if it had not been for this issue.

It would be interesting to know if the wifi modules are the same between 12 pro and 12 std phones. Given that some say they have no issue with the 12 std, if they are the same, that would definitively suggest that the PWM.

Update after some more testing:

- Using 4G, I have no issues (I don't have 5G coverage at home to test with)
- Using Wifi only (cellular disabled), I noticed it very slightly, but not that bad really
- When hotspot is enabled, within 30 seconds I can feel that something is really not right and I start to struggle to understand what the writing on the screen is saying - I simply can't focus my mind.

As a result, IME, this issue is related to the wifi hotspot.

 

[Albert1020]

Hello,

sorry for my bad English, did anyone also feel dizziness with the new iPhone 12 (Pro) Models?

I got my iPhone 12 on Friday and after a few minutes I immediately felt nausea. When I used it yesterday in the day it was fine, but then in the evening when the display lighting dims down I immediately felt this nausea again. I've owned all the iPhone models out there, I've never had problems like this.

I read here in the Forums, this could be because of the PWM OLED Flickering, so it seems like i must return my iPhone 12 Pro, what makes me sad. But luckily, I'm happy with my iphone 11 pro too.

Dude, i been feeling this same way! I bought the iPhone 12 pro max this morning and right when i turned it on, i began to feel a bit tingly sensation in my eyes and head. I dont know what it is but i called 911 to ask if it was a medical emergency and they said it wasnt and no one has been hospitalized since the phone series came out. However, when i showed it to friends, they said it did gove a kinda feeling like looking at a pc monitor for hours, which kinda is how i feel. However, I always keep the brightness to a half point. When i got my 11 pro max in May 2020 I didn’t have nowhere near this issue! Im gonna probably be returning this tomorrow. Not sure if it may have something to do with the radiation from this particular phone or what but its ****ing whack.

 

[widetyres]

Update after some more testing:

- Using 4G, I have no issues (I don't have 5G coverage at home to test with)
- Using Wifi only (cellular disabled), I noticed it very slightly, but not that bad really
- When hotspot is enabled, within 30 seconds I can feel that something is really not right and I start to struggle to understand what the writing on the screen is saying - I simply can't focus my mind.

As a result, IME, this issue is related to the wifi hotspot.

Re these findings, I actually did some further testing before sending back the phone and found that the issue was also really noticeable when using just wifi (no cellular or wifi hotspot enabled), it was just that it was super bad with the hotspot enabled.

With just wifi, the symptoms took about 2-3 mins before being noticeable.
With wifi hotspot enabled, the symptoms were present very quickly (e.g. ~30 secs)

 

[alekh16]

Hi all. I bought the new iPhone 12 pro 3 days ago and I had the exact same issue of vertigo and nausea when i looked into the screen. I was able to resolve it with the following:
1. I removed my cheap screen protector that I got from amazon. Haven't yet replaced it with another brand yet (not sure if this helped but just making a note of what helped overall)
2. Turned night/dark mode off. The night mode clearly had flickering issue visible to naked eye when I scrolled on settings app with black background. As soon as I turned to normal light mode, the screen seems to be working just fine and I have had zero issues.
3. Turned on True Tone.
4. Night shift is off during the day time but it can help if you use it.


I did try various other methods like 'Reduce white point' and 'reduce motion' but none of them worked. I would recommend trying the above method. I had also turned faceID off for a while which seemed to help too but now I am. back to using faceID with no issues.
Note: I had iPhone X for 3.5 years before this and had zero issue with that phone. Hopefully this setting on my new 12 pro will keep working fine for me.

 

[Jclok]

I had a similar issue of vertigo recently with the new iPad pro 11. I used a 2017 iPad for years with no issue, but the new ipad Pro gave me vertigo right out of the box. Any idea who makes the screens for the new iPad Pro 11?

 

[SLine]

I had a 6s plus for many years and it was fine. Recently I bought an iphone 12 pro and frequently have nausea and vertigo. I notice the symptoms when I read too much at night. Yesterday I was sick all day just from reading my iphone too much the night before. Boy did that suck. Not sure what I'll do ... still googling.

 

[Jclok]

I wish I could pinpoint exactly what the issue is, but I will say I felt the same symptoms you do. I wonder if it’s their implementation of dithering to provide “more colors”.

 

[suncountry]

I wish I could pinpoint exactly what the issue is, but I will say I felt the same symptoms you do. I wonder if it’s their implementation of dithering to provide “more colors”.

It would be great if someone could test the various phones and variables for EMF. I do have an EMF meter.. but not sure what to test exactly and don't have that many to test with.

 

[RRC]

The nausea is not from radiation… if it was your phone is defective. They wouldn’t pass safety checks if they were ever going to release levels that high!

It’s PWM that you’re likely experiencing as the 13’s have a higher refresh rate for the PWM than previous iPhones.