While we didn't find any screen issues to complain about in our iPhone 15 Pro Max review, numerous owners of the most expensive iPhone 15 model have been noticing burn-in problems with their phone screens – problems that iOS 17.1 is set to fix.
As noticed by MacRumors and others, the upcoming software update mentions a fix for issues that "may cause display image persistence", or screen burn in. It's not available for everyone yet, but it has been pushed out to beta testers and developers.
Image persistence, or screen burn in, is when you can see faint remnants of what's previously been shown on a screen. It's long been a problem on OLED panels, and would often happen on display TVs for example, where channel logos would 'burn' into the display because they were being shown around the clock.
Burn in has been less of a problem in recent years, after advances in hardware and software, and it's only potentially a problem if you're showing a fixed image on an OLED display for an extended period of time. Nevertheless, signs of burn in – ghostly text and icons – have been spotted on some iPhone 15 Pro Max screens.
Coming soon
Apple doesn't go into detail about how these image persistence issues have been resolved, but it will be a relief to phone owners that a software fix is available. As per reports on Reddit and elsewhere, Apple was previously replacing phones for people who had been affected by the burn in problem.
If you have an iPhone that is showing signs of burn in, we'd recommend hanging tight until iOS 17.1 rolls out, to check if it has any effect on the problem. If you're still noticing issues after that, get in touch with Apple directly.
There isn't anything too dramatic coming with iOS 17.1. There are minor improvements to AirDrop transfers, StandBy mode, and the Apple Music app – including options to favorite albums and playlists as well as songs.
According to regulators in France – where the software patch will fix radio frequency issues on the iPhone 12 – the iOS 17.1 update should be out by Tuesday, October 24, building on all the new features we've already seen in iOS 17.
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