- Kyle Chua
Some iPhone 15 Pro Max Users Experiencing Image Retention Issues
Updated: Dec 18, 2023
Apple's iPhone 15 is having a rocky launch, with various issues being widely reported less than one month of the devices hitting market.
The latest of which has to do with the device's OLED panel. According to Tom's Guide, a small number of iPhone 15 Pro Max users are suffering from some form of image retention, taking to Reddit and Apple's discussion forums to report the issue.
"I got my iPhone 15 Pro Max on release day and have been loving it so far. I had heard that some people were experiencing burn-in issues on theirs, but I wasn’t really noticing anything on mine until a couple nights ago when I started to see a small amount of what looked like ghosting," wrote one Reddit user.
"I am having the same exact issue on mine," another wrote on Apple's forums. "A rewind, play and forward button from Spotify is permanently burned into my screen."
As of writing, however, a lot remains unclear about the issue, including what's causing it and how widespread it is. One Reddit user did say that he too encountered the issue on his iPhone 15 Pro, suggesting that it's not exclusive to the larger, more high-end iPhone model. It's also unclear whether the issue is indeed screen burn-in or not, as many users online said it was.
Screen burn-in, for those unfamiliar, is an issue where the outline of an image is permanently etched into an OLED screen. Each pixel within the screen produces its own light, which slowly decay over time. Some individuals pixels, however, wear out faster than others, depending on the colour and the use. Leaving a static image on the screen for an extended period of time usually speeds up the degradation of those pixels, which can create discolouration in specific areas of the screen. While the screen can continue to function as normal, the etched images and dark spots can prove annoying.
As for the difference between screen burn-in and image retention, the former's discolouration is permanent, while the latter's is temporary, typically disappearing after switching the image or turning the screen off. In most cases, screen burn-in happens in a span of years, not within a month of use. This is why Tom's Guide thinks the issue with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is likely image retention.
Reports of the issue come less than a couple of weeks after Apple released a patch to address the overheating issues that users have been encountering on the iPhone 15. Apart from overheating, there have also been reports about the latest iPhone models suffering from power issues, where the battery drains faster than normal.
Some iPhone 15 Pro Max users are suffering from some form of image retention, taking to Reddit and Apple's forums to report the issue.
As of writing, however, a lot remains unclear about the issue, including what's causing it and how widespread it is.
It's also unclear whether the issue is screen burn-in or image retention, with the former being permanent and the latter being temporary.