iPhone 17 PWM feature

Sunspark

Apple is off sRGB for awhile now. Don't worry about it, it's just a mathematical colour space which is not the same thing as hardware.

All you can do is wait and see what happens with this setting.

JTL

Sunspark I saw the screenshot too. It is a real setting

Wasn't the only basis of my claim 😉

if they will reserve the setting ONLY for the Pro Max, or if they will let all the other models have access to it, including earlier devices that will be receiving iOS 26 this fall.

Other devices in the 17 series... maybe.

Older devices running iOS 26. If implementation requires hardware changes (just informed speculation) that would place my bets further on "no". But the same could apply to the Pro Max vs others in the 17 series.

JTL

JTL Older devices running iOS 26. If implementation requires hardware changes (just informed speculation) that would place my bets further on "no". But the same could apply to the Pro Max vs others in the 17 series.

Yeah... I wasn't counting on it

AshX

JTL

Users are already complaining iOS 26 is making their previously good devices unusable. Is dither the likely culprit? I doubt the 17 series will have vastly different screen to the 16 series, so it will probably utilize dithering as well. At least an Accessibility toggle would be very simple to add to iOS 26, as Stillcolor has proven.

The fight continues…

JTL

AshX Users are already complaining iOS 26 is making their previously good devices unusable. Is dither the likely culprit?

I wouldn't say anything without having seen an accurate test comparing between them.

To accurately measure dithering "probably" involves a microscope and a sufficient high speed camera ($$$) and two otherwise identical (e.g same display part number) devices running the differing iOS between them (as you can't (easily) downgrade).

As an aside. I know (at least some) iDevices can output video over Lightning/USB-C, but I don't know if said external display output would suffer from any alleged issues of the internal display for purposes of measurement (e.g I haven't seen anyone test this)

I doubt the 17 series will have vastly different screen to the 16 series, so it will probably utilize dithering as well

Well. I'd say some of it depends if the 17 series actually has changes in the display pipeline to accommodate other recent advancements.

K-Moss

AshX Dithering doesn't bother most people, including Nick at Android Central. So be careful about assuming because something dithers it's going to cause eye or brain issues. For most, it doesn't.

ITwebs

AshX

I wonder why no one is inventing software like stillcolour for iPhone. Is it way more difficult to make one when compared to macOS?

phantomarray

K-Moss

Dithering doesn't bother most people? Got any evidence for that claim? And for context and clarity I assume the implication is 'most people who suffer from the eyestrain issues as discussed on this site.'

augusto

Just watched one iPhone Air review on YouTube and they say there is a new accessibility feature to disable PWM.

I pre-ordered it as soon as i heard that.

I can not use an iPhone since the iPhone X OLED.

Let’s hope it works!

https://youtu.be/5EeWu1CS2Ac?si=GXtGvUE-7XpZ3_UJ

Lauda89

On Reddit everyone has gone crazy! They’ve opened 10 different threads on this topic! I hope this can be helpful, but most people here (myself included), as well as on PWM_Sensitive and in the iPhone X thread on MacRumors, are NOT able to use even the MBA, iPad, and iPad Air — which already don’t have PWM! I still think PWM is only a small part of the problem…

ocean10

Lauda89

I'm in that same camp of not being able to use other non-PWM Apple products. I did pre-order an iPhone for the the first time in 8 years though. I don't have super high hopes but figured it can't hurt to try.

At the very least it's the first "acknowledgment" that I've seen from Apple that these issues exist. If this isn't the solution now maybe this leads to something in the future.

Sunspark

Progress is incremental, so it helps that they finally added it (after the Chinese Android OEMs did it first).

I'm still pretty blah on iOS and Apple products, I don't feel a great desire to have their products. I find Android easier to work with and more flexible.

iMessage lock-in isn't really as much of a thing anymore. Outside of the US, the rest of the world doesn't use it, and inside the US that's started to change also because people have their Facebook Messenger, etc.

Vip

ocean10 Please update us when you get it - I also am sensitive to more than PWM (assumption being dithering, but who knows?) but it will be very interesting to hear of this is a step in the right direction.

Ruoma

Check this review out at 3:30. First video for me of the toggle on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EeWu1CS2Ac

m1ngw

Other people have reported that the PWM toggle really only starts to work at low brightness levels. I have the 17 Pro and can concur - modulation is still very high at higher brightness levels. It's a massive disappointment, the toggle is a chocolate teapot !

phantomarray

You should probably close the thread or change the title as the toggle does not turn off PWM.

All four models don’t even flicker at a rate as high as some of their competitors. It’s laughable and an outright lie from Apple, which is extraordinary. They often lie by implication but the wording of the menu toggle explicitly states that it disables PWM.

PWM cannot be turned off on new iPhones (2025)

AshX

phantomarray

Somehow they made this worse like how is that even possible 😂

They should have consulted users on this forum to test the feature. To my knowledge no one from any of the screen sensitive groups was contacted.

phantomarray

AshX

I really don’t get it. While I had my doubts about it somehow being flicker free (not really possible with OLED of course) what they’ve actually engineered is terrible, with an outright lie to top it off. I’ve pre-ordered a base 17 that should arrive in an hour or two but it may well go back. I’m on an iPhone 16 Plus which is ok but not ideal.

I was thinking of getting a TCL Nxtpaper 60 Ultra but there are quite a few reasons why I’d rather not buy one, although obviously our health must come first.

K-Moss

phantomarray "I was thinking of getting a TCL Nxtpaper 60 Ultra but there are quite a few reasons why I’d rather not buy one, although obviously our health must come first."

Which reasons? Even if you can use an OLED screen, surely IPS LCD is healthier.

AshX

phantomarray

They’re clearly prioritizing brightness, color reproduction, and battery life benchmarks over everything else. It’s just ridiculous that my iPhone 13 from 2022 has a modulation depth below 10% at every brightness level except 25% and below, yet the iPhone 17 series has 95%+ modulation depth at all brightness levels even with this toggle enabled.

A disgrace.

Clokwork

AshX They’re clearly prioritizing brightness, color reproduction, and battery life benchmarks over everything else.

Well said! I was going to type something similar.

This new series of 17 phones all use an updated panel. Squeezing more brightness out probably requiring more modulation. I partially blame Samsung for this as well since the panels are based on their technology and I’m guessing using their controllers

AshX

Clokwork This new series of 17 phones all use an updated panel. Squeezing more brightness out probably requiring more modulation. I partially blame Samsung for this as well since the panels are based on their technology and I’m guessing using their controllers

Agreed. It’s the only variable that makes sense

K-Moss USB-C headsets and adapters don't seem to provide clear mic quality, so people end up using wireless.

Exactly. Those of us in audio know that the magnetic field created by the Air Pods is not good and poorly studied. Wired solutions sound superior and are safer. The mainstream has covered this in recent months.

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