iOS 17.1 Fixes iPhone Burn-In Issue, But Not This Annoying Bug

pcmag.com:

Apple's upcoming iOS 17.1 update reportedly solves a screen burn-in issue spotted on the iPhone 15. But it does not yet address another problem vexing owners of the company's newest smartphone.

As MacRumors notes, Apple's release notes say the update addresses an issue that "may cause display image persistence," which is another way of saying burn-in.

The update hasn't rolled out to the masses yet, but some folks who have tried it say the image retention is gone. Reddit user u/spriteice, for example, showed comparisons in a Reddit post before and after updating to the latest beta version of iOS 17.1, Forbes reports.

OLED displays are known for having burn-in risks, especially with smartphones and computer monitors, where static elements are common. However, seeing such burn-in days or weeks after a phone purchase is rare. Such behavior typically denotes a hardware issue, which would've resulted in Apple replacing tons of displays, but this fix suggests it's a software problem. According to MacRumors, it wasn't solely an iPhone 15 Pro Max problem; some people with the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro also reported burn-in problems.

Most OLED panels, even those on smartphones, have special software that helps prevent burn-in. Apple uses similar preventative measures. "This includes special algorithms that monitor the usage of individual pixels to produce display calibration data. Your iPhone uses that data to automatically adjust the brightness levels for each pixel as needed to reduce visual effects from burn-in and to maintain a consistent viewing experience," according to Apple.

Ricky Panesar, founder of iCorrect, tells Forbes that fixing the issue through software could mean it wasn't real burn-in, but rather an issue