iPhone 17 PWM feature

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.

K-Moss

If Apple cared about your health, they would not have removed the headphone jack.

augusto

K-Moss what is it todo with health?

There is always usb-c if you want wired connection

K-Moss

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

K-Moss

AshX I got decent mic performance using the 24-bit UGreen adapter. EarPods gave awful mic performance. Even if the UGreen adapter is adequate, I'd still prefer having a headphone jack. Tried also another USB-C headset and the Anker adapter. Those like the EarPods gave awful mic performance. Therefore, only the UGreen adapter, of what I have tested so far, is adequate for use on phone calls.

Edit: forgot to mention, the UGreen product seems like very nice quality for what it is. That said, it was heating up just from using it on a short phone call. I'm guessing it drains quite some battery vs a headphone jack.

specamfi

(I haven't been able to use any OLED iPhone comfortably - I still use an 11 - not Pro). I tried the 17 Pro Max at Target (in the US) and toggled the feature on and off. The phone is more comfortable either way than other iPhones but I'll need more time with it. Reduce white point adjustments automatically turn the feature off. I used slo-mo video on to see the difference and it is definitely making a change.

Note that when I went to the Apple Store an hour later I tried the feature there on all the 17s. I used the slow-mo video and confirmed that it does not work/change anything in the Apple Store demo mode on the phones I tried.

K-Moss

specamfi I thought Reduce White Point and Extra Dim introduce dithering?

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