How to fix iPhone XS Max Screen flickering issue

iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max the new flagship phones released by Apple are making great impact on its users in term of its features and performance. But some of iPhone Xs Max users are facing screen flickering issue in the phones.  Flicker in the iPhone Xs/ iPhone Xs max looks like the phone is unable to set the brightness level. Some user’s claims to reproduce the issue with some level of brightness at any point of time with their iPhone XS.

iPhone XS Max Screen flickering; image apple.com

The issue is happening across different applications like Whatsapp , apple calendar app or Google photos and the screen will flicker randomly in iPhone Xs Max. It is uneven flickering and sometimes the auto brightness will go very low. The other iPhones like iPhone 7 or 8 are working fine under same light/circumstances.  

What is causing iPhone Xs Max screen flicker:

The screen flicker in iPhone Xs max seems to be related to the brightness slider. If you monitor the brightness settings and enter a room that is brighter or darker, you will see the brightness slider move as normal. But as is passes under the letter S in “brightness” it flickers once.

Now if you try to move it manually, you will the same issue at the same spot. You don't need to use auto brightness to see screen flicker in iPhone Xs Max. Just slide the brightness bar really slowly from about 5% to 30%. Now when you hit a point where brightness jumps dramatically instead of smoothly. It MAY be software because the point is not set, it actually seems to move a little bit. But somewhere around 18%.

It looks that every iPhone Xs have split second drop in brightness at 18% and screen will flicker at this mark of brightness. It’s annoying, since it constantly goes up and down as you will move around, and causes the flicker every time. No other iPhone had this issue and it expected be software related and hopefully apple soon releases a fix for the issue.

Fix for iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max screen flicker in low light:

Fix 1: Turn off White point

If you have reduce white enabled please try to reduce the level to below 60%. Go to Settings->General->accessibility ->Display accommodation-> Reduce white point. In some cases it  only see it happening on my MAX when it’s enabled once reduced white below MAX  the flickering Surprisingly stops happening.

Fix 2: Reset up a new phone

You may be want to do it at last when nothing seems to fix flickering of iPhone Xs. Please take a backup of your iPhone and reset the device as new. Now without restoring the database test screen flicker (like as mentioned above near 18%).

Fix 3: Get iphone xs replacement

You should finally get a Genius Bar appointment. For many users the replacement phone doesn’t do flickering at all for some users. Some of the users remain to be unlucky as with the replaced new iPhone XS the same thing is happening.

Fix 4: Upgrade the iOS 12 to new version

Since the issue is happening on both Iphone Xs and iPhon Xs max and even in some cases the replaced phones are facing the same issue, it is quite possible that it’s a software bug and will be fixed in the upcoming releases. So please update to iOS 12.1 whenever released officially by Apple.

Contact apple and submit a bug report.

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