I wouldn’t want to speculate too much on the extent of these problems because you can never tell, but there is enough chatter on social media and forums to think that there might be something to stories of OLED burn-in on iPhone 15s causing some problems for users.
The problems appear localized to the iPhone 15 Pro Max for now, with owners sharing their burn-in woes on Reddit, X/Twitter, Apple Support Communities community forum, and other outlets. In a MacRumors forum post, one user reported burn-in after just 14 days of normal use. While Always On display was enabled, the screen timeout setting was a brief two minutes — apparently not long enough to prevent burn-in.
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Adding to the problem is the supply constraints on the iPhone Pro Max which is making users looking for a replacement a bit irate.
However, the consensus is that Apple’s iOS 17.1 update addresses the problem which is being labeled a software problem that mimics screen burn-in. Right now, the only note on Apple’s site is for iOS & iPadOS 17.1 Beta 3 (no mention of burn-in specifically), and the actual release is expected on October 24. The release candidate (iOS 17.1 RC) is available to developers and beta testers, and addresses how the Always On feature behaves, which may be what is causing the perceived burn-in problems, and you can find plenty of commentary on that, most with a nod to it solving the burn-in or ghosting issue. However, there is scant official documentation to identify the actual cause of the problem.
There may be nothing more to these stories than the general uptick in griping and sniping, followed by heavy sighs of relief and cheers for Apple’s responsiveness that follow every Apple product launch. It’s kind of a rite of passage for Apple’s more ardent followers to see if they can poke the giant and get it look their way. Makes them feel loved, I guess.
