Apple Claims iPhone X Off-Angle Shifts In Color, Hue Are ‘Normal Behavior’

Apple maintains that some iPhone X display issues are actually normal behavior for a device that uses an OLED screen. The Cupertino giant even says it’s normal to see some screen burn-in on the iPhone X over time.

Apple Insider has obtained an Apple support document in which the tech giant discusses iPhone X’s Super Retina OLED display and the issues that some users would notice or experience at some point. One of the issues tackled in the document is the shifting in color and hue when the 10th anniversary iPhone is viewed off-angle. Apple claims that this is a normal occurrence among OLED displays.

“If you look at an OLED display off-angle, you might notice slight shifts in color and hue. This is a characteristic of OLED and is normal behavior.” The manifestation of thess shifts is very minimal at narrow angles, but worsens the farther away the user is from straight-on viewing.

When iMore compared the OLED displays between the iPhone X and the Pixel 2 XL late last month, the publication noted that color shifting was not a known issue with the display panels on the iPhone X. The outlet even stated that the technical issue was only present in the OLED panels LG produced for Google’s larger Pixel phone. It is important to note that Apple’s iPhone X uses OLED panels from Samsung.

This time, Apple is the one confirming that its flagship device does have color shifting issues. Not only that, Apple has also admitted that there will be “slight visual changes” on the display through time. And again, Apple maintains this is normal. “With extended long-term use, OLED displays can also show slight visual changes. This is also expected behavior and can include ‘image persistence’ or ‘burn-in,’ where the display shows a faint remnant of an image even after a new image appears on the screen.”

Apple noted that the faint remnant image only occurs in “extreme cases” like when the user has continuously displayed a high contrast image for a long period of time. Hence, Apple suggested that users should avoid displaying high-contrast images for prolonged periods, as per iDownloadBlog. “If you have an app that keeps your display on when you aren’t actively using your iPhone X, you can temporarily reduce the brightness level using Control Center,” the Cupertino giant added.

Despite these issues, Apple insists that it’s Super Retina OLED display is engineered to be “the best in the industry in reducing the effects of OLED ‘burn-in.’” The tech giant event compared the iPhone X’s OLED panel with traditional OLED displays, saying, “The Super Retina display overcomes challenges with traditional OLED displays with its high brightness, wide color support and has the best color accuracy in the industry.”

MacRumors has pointed out the downside to Apple’s admission of the display issues. Because the company has said that these technical problems are normal behavior, it’s not clear if consumers will be covered for these issues in terms of the one-year iPhone X warranty or extended AppleCare+ coverage.