iPhone owners experiencing display issues, too?

We aren't saying that this is a widespread issue just yet, but a (rightfully) annoyed tipster has informed and shown us that his "refurbished" 8GB iPhone seems to have the same "negative black issue" that some iPod touch owners are currently grumbling about. Granted, he admits that the photo makes things look a little worse than they do in person, but the problem is still apparent. So, dear readers, are any of you experiencing iPod touch-like display issues on your iPhone?

[Thanks, Jason G.]

[Tom @ Sep 21st 2007 12:53PM]

Mine seems to be fine so far. Although I bought mine on the 30th of June and so I didn't get a refurbished one (plus, no chance of the LCD being manufactured alongside the Touch's iffy LCDs)

[Alan Partridge @ Sep 21st 2007 1:33PM]

Hmm, Apple seem to really skimping on quality this generation, I wouldn't be suprised if someone got an iPod filled with dust and a homeless man's shoes.

[Derry Quinn @ Sep 21st 2007 1:50PM]

XD!! !!

[Aaron D. @ Sep 21st 2007 12:57PM]

nope, i received my refurb. 8gb three days ago and it works great, no issues.

[Zach @ Sep 21st 2007 1:38PM]

Three days is hardly long enough to make a judgment...

[GenericWhiteGuy @ Sep 21st 2007 2:15PM]

@zach

The problems with my Touch screen were obvious 10 seconds into my first video. So, three days is more than enough time to notice this...

[Zach @ Sep 22nd 2007 9:13PM]

I've had LCD issues on mobile devices several weeks after purchase.

[Jason G @ Sep 21st 2007 1:00PM]

Yep - that's my iPhone. I sent the same picture to Apple today, and they told me that they'd replace it. But instead of simply mailing me another phone, they're making me go through this process:

1. They're sending me a loaner iPhone
2. I send them my iPhone
3. They receive my iPhone and send me a new one
4. I receive my new iPhone.
5. I send them back the loner.

But, whatever works, I guess. :)

The negative black is dead on in that picture, the only bit that looks worse is the picture quality ... it makes the LCD look washed out (which it isn't).

Jason G

[Isaac @ Sep 21st 2007 2:42PM]

You see, thats the good thing about the ipod touch. If you have the problem you just walk in to the store and they give you a new one.

[brian welch @ Sep 21st 2007 2:52PM]

@jasong And the worst part of that is you "get" the privilege of PAYING them 30 bucks for a loaner phone while your phone is being worked on with WARRANTY WORK. I am down with paying 30 for a loaner if it's voluntary or you screwed it up. They told me the same thing when I went in for a warranty job on the volume buttons. *\:=

[LegendZ28 @ Sep 21st 2007 3:07PM]

They make everyone do that. The good thing is that they send everyone overnight shipping at their expense.

[Jason G @ Sep 25th 2007 1:57PM]

For anyone following this post ...

Apple send me my original iPhone back, indicating that "The reported symptom(s) that is not reproducible: 757/Display - Poor Image Quality"

In other words, they didn't fix anything.

I'm sending it back, again, to Apple ... today.

C'mon Apple. I even took a picture of the problem :sigh:

[Brian Hunt @ Sep 21st 2007 1:01PM]

The first one I bought was dead. Powered on, but screen wouldn't react to anything...not related to the article, but a screen issue none to less.

[derek @ Sep 21st 2007 7:06PM]

So a guy says something without any proof, and gets highest ranked?

[FrankTheCrank @ Sep 21st 2007 1:06PM]

I bought the 4GB unit 24 hours after the price drop...got it for $299, SWEET!

Anyways...the store had about 15 units....so my guess is that my unit was manufactured a while ago. And no, I do not have the negative black problem. I've been watching allot of video podcasts on it, as well as taking and looking at photo's.

[Brian @ Sep 21st 2007 1:10PM]

No issues and still happy since day 1.

[ericdano @ Sep 21st 2007 1:13PM]

Nope, mine is PERFECT!

[Pantalones @ Sep 21st 2007 1:14PM]

I bought my iPhone on launch day, no problems then and no problems now.

[Joel @ Sep 21st 2007 1:16PM]

So are ipod touch users exchanging theirs as well?

[Cagrino @ Sep 21st 2007 5:54PM]

Yes we are. I just exchanged mine earlier today. But it's not easy. I first went last night and spent about 40 minutes convincing the guy that there was a problem with my Touch. He said they would not exchange it until Apple officially acknowledged the problem. I told him that I will call APL CARE and that he should compare my screen to one of the display iPhones.

I was on hold forever when he came back from the Genius bar and said that, yes he could see the problem and he'd exchange it. But they didn't have any more 16GB ones available.

I waited for their daily shipment and picked my exchange up before they sold out again.

Good luck to everyone else that's trying to exchange their Touch or iPhone. I used this picture that was posted on a MacRumors thread to convince them. It shows the problem very clearly.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=356695

[Cagrino @ Sep 21st 2007 5:57PM]

Yes we are. I just exchanged mine earlier today. But it's not easy. I first went last night and spent about 40 minutes convincing the guy that there was a problem with my Touch. He said they would not exchange it until Apple officially acknowledged the problem. I told him that I will call APL CARE and that he should compare my screen to one of the display iPhones.

I was on hold forever when he came back from the Genius bar and said that, yes he could see the problem and he'd exchange it. But they didn't have any more 16GB ones available.

I waited for their daily shipment and picked my exchange up before they sold out again.

Good luck to everyone else that's trying to exchange their Touch or iPhone. I used this picture that was posted on a MacRumors thread to convince them. It shows the problem very clearly.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=356695

[Ellianth @ Sep 21st 2007 1:14PM]

I wonder if I'll ever see anther, "Apple products have such great build quality" post again.

[Jon @ Sep 21st 2007 2:35PM]

Their fans have short memory span. Trust me we will see them.

[John M @ Sep 21st 2007 1:18PM]

I have the white grid line issue on my home screen but no problems with the actual display when running video

[Jerad @ Sep 21st 2007 1:19PM]

I have a refurb 8 gb and the issue I have been having is that sometimes when I power the screen back on and unlock it will immediately shut off again.

[spoc62618 @ Sep 21st 2007 1:32PM]

I bought mine the day the price dropped and have had no issued whatsoever. All smiles here!

[oGMo @ Sep 21st 2007 2:11PM]

That a product works as advertised isn't really something to brag about.

[Scott @ Sep 21st 2007 1:25PM]

I have had the negative black issue with two iPhones in a row (first one had some bad pixels and they swapped it for me). Both had 7 series screens, so I am not sure if that is the common thread or not. I have seen a few 5 series and they didn’t have the issue. My current iPhone has great build quality and otherwise has no issues, so I think I may just keep it.

Mine is not as bad as the one pictured, but there is an easy way to see if you have the problem:

Just go to the home screen and hold down the power button, but don’t shut off the unit. This dims all the icons on the screen enough to show the problem. Take a look at the icons on the screen – you should be able to see the negative black issue clearly if you have a bad one… I think lots of them have the problem though, some worse than others. You just don’t notice it unless you watch a lot of video.

[Jag Singh @ Sep 21st 2007 3:42PM]

iPhone
I just had my iPhone replaced yesterday at an apple store because of dead pixels and a defective earpiece.

The replacement phone that i received was out of a white box with HonHai as the manufacturer and it has the negative black issue. I REALLY noticed the problem by holding the power button at the home screen to dim the icons.

I'm going to call the apple store and see if there is any recourse or if i can just send the phone in for repair.

[Mike Jenkins @ Sep 21st 2007 1:25PM]

I got my iPod Touch today from my internet preorder and the display is perfect, I guess it was worth the wait.

[jessica @ Sep 21st 2007 1:28PM]

yea my iphone does the same thing the picture sucks
i mean it works fine but its so dark.

[RZ @ Sep 21st 2007 1:30PM]

Yep I have the same issue with my refurbished one, but I figured other iPhone owners just dealt with it. I'll be taking it back to the store now. Crap.

[AmazingRobie @ Sep 21st 2007 1:44PM]

Congrats! You got iPwned...

;)

[JP1111G @ Sep 21st 2007 1:55PM]

What you describe as 'negative black' is actually known as 'gray scale inversion'.

[Michael Smith @ Sep 21st 2007 1:35PM]

Ok.. I bought a refurb too but would like to know; Is this an issue seen right away in which case I'm fine or is this something that develops over time?

[Hashbrown @ Sep 21st 2007 2:45PM]

Yep,

I've got the same issue. I tried taking it to the "genius" bar is pasadena. But that guy was far from a genius and said that it was within spec and apple wouldn't do anything about it. Shows how much he knew.

I'll probably have to send my in. Although I'll end up having to buy a new bestskinever and crystal film :(

[Ryan T. @ Sep 21st 2007 1:46PM]

I have a refurb 8gig that I just got this week and it has the exact same issue.

[damien @ Sep 21st 2007 2:04PM]

I had my refurb 8gb for around a week now and i have no problems. Works great!

[Bryan F @ Sep 21st 2007 2:09PM]

I bought a closeout (new) 4GB iPhone after the price drop. I also picked up a touch when they first arrived at our local Apple store, while my pre-ordered one spent a week "preparing for shipment". When all the talk of the touch issues surfaced, I compared the same clips on both, and found them almost identical. So I figured I was okay; the picture wasn't perfect at all angles, but what LCD is?

Then I compared my touch to a new(er) one, and the difference was definitely there. I can't say the first one was bad enough to throw too much of a fuss over (the pictures really do make it look worse than it is), but compared to a "good" one it is hard to deny the difference in picture quality, even at an "ideal" angle.

So now I have a two devices with crappy LCDs, and of course the Apple store is out of touches, and I'd probably have to send the iPhone away if I want it fixed.

Thanks Apple!

[Matt Sulivan @ Sep 21st 2007 3:59PM]

you bought an iPhone and a iPod touch?

... why?

[Max @ Sep 21st 2007 2:09PM]

Seriously, I don't understand why everyone believes Apple has quality control issues. As we all know, Apple products are assembled in heaven, by the hand of god and transported to earth on the wings of angels. To suggest that Apple's products are flawed would be to suggest that god himself is fallible, and that would mean the complete and utter destruction of planet earth.

[Todd @ Sep 21st 2007 9:32PM]

Speaks the truth. Everyone +1 him!

[gentlebrother @ Sep 21st 2007 4:11PM]

is there actually anybody out there who has absolutely no grey scale inversion/negative black effect on their iPhone/iPod touch screen? it seems that the type of lcd apple uses will always manage to exhibit some degree of this issue depending upon the angle the unit is held at, and the ambient lighting conditions.

here's the easiest test for this issue i've found: turn your brightness all the way up and load this page in safari http://techmind.org/lcd/greyscale.html. the 00 swatch should be the darkest one on the screen. on mine (refurb 8G iPhone, received last friday), 10 is the darkest when viewed straight on, but 00 is darker when i tilt the phone forward.

also, does the serial numbering on the iPhone work like it does on the iPod touch (4th and 5th numbers indicate the week manufactured)? mine is 34, and i have a model 7 lcd (checked by dialing *3001#12345#*, and selecting Versions).

[g2 @ Sep 21st 2007 3:11PM]

How did you determine this is a model 7 LCD ?
(Is that info in the serial number digits)

[gentlebrother @ Sep 21st 2007 4:18PM]

it's the first digit of the LCD Panel ID. btw, does anybody else notice on the same page that "Firmware" is misspelled?

[ilzoso @ Sep 25th 2007 1:04AM]

I bought it on the day they reduced it to $399. I tried the grayscale test and I always see 00 the darkest. No problems so far :-).
Model Number on mine is 575.... (i.e., 5, I guess)

[PK @ Sep 21st 2007 4:30PM]

@gentlebrother: My iPhone was bought 4 days after release and has never had any display issues. I checked the page you recommended and 00 definitely shows up as the darkest swatch, either with brightness low or high and from every angle. I have a 5-series screen, too, if that helps.

@g2: To determine your LCD screen series, dial *3001#12345#* via the phone keypad and hit "Call", then select "Versions." The series of your screen will be the first number in the "LCD Panel ID" field. So far, people have found that there are 2 screen versions - "5" series and "7" series. "7" series seem to be newer and plagued with the most problems.

[PK @ Sep 21st 2007 4:32PM]

@gentlebrother:

That misspelling has actually been there since release day. I wonder if firmware 1.1.1 will also fix that...

[jay @ Sep 21st 2007 2:34PM]

my 4 gig non refurb is experiencing it i think. upsetting :\

[Snitch @ Sep 21st 2007 2:17PM]

well I really don't know what is that people expect of a refurbished unit, there's a reason why the call the refurbished you know and sell the cheaper, its not like your supose to get the same quality as everyone that paid full price,if that was the case, everyone that brought a new unit will be a sucker