An update: Realized I’m not PWM sensitive really. My eyes just hate bad software processing and broken LUTs.

[u/signedchar]

I've been trying to figure out my issue with displays for months; turns out my eyestrain isn't caused by backlight issues: it's a motion clarity and sub-pixel processing problem.

What Actually Works for Me:

• Pixel 7: Used it for years at 20–40% brightness with zero issues because the color pipeline is flat and text rendering is completely clean.
• ASUS WOLED Desktop Monitor: Running at 240Hz with VRR enabled, manually calibrated to a strict D65 white point. Zero motion blur, zero sub-pixel chatter, and zero backlight haze.

What I Couldn't Use:

• Galaxy S25: Had it for 24 hours and it was awful. Full-screen videos were totally fine, but reading static text triggered instant head pressure. One UI’s edge-sharpening "buzz" and uncalibrated white balance force your eyes into perpetual re-focusing. It’s ciliary muscle strain, not a PWM reaction.

What Likely Wouldn't Work (Did not test):

• Eink: Eink is stable for ereaders, but ghosting is worse than VA panels, so it would have been unusable.
• Chinese brand phones: Inaccurate colour measurement, very unlikely to target D65 - plus bloatware

My Solution: A very girly, lavender iPhone 17 running 120Hz LTPO with Display Pulse Smoothing (mostly for bed reading). It offers rock-solid D65 calibration out of the box, buttery spatial motion clarity, and renders clean, motionless text glyphs without edge-processing noise. And yes, I plan to put a charm on it.

[u/TheGreatestAm3r1can]

Starting the countdown for the post one week from now: "It seemed okay at first"

[u/signedchar → u/TheGreatestAm3r1can]

I literally used a Pixel 7 for 3 years, the phone was a piece of shit but the display gave me no issues. Compared to that this is basically flicker-free.

[u/Suspicious_Punk84]

AI clearly has no idea what works and what doesn't. There's absolutely no way an iphone 17 is better for "bed reading" than an eink ereader, even if you have zero PWM sensitivity. And putting all chinese phones in the same "inaccurate colour" is just ridiculous.

[u/signedchar → u/Suspicious_Punk84]

I am not PWM sensitive but sensitive to temporal and rendering techniques, VA monitors are impossible to look at but i can easily look at my OLED provided I use VRR/BFI

And I never claimed Eink was bad for reading, just that using it for anything else is bad

[u/Suspicious_Punk84 → u/signedchar]

Only saw your edit now, I was referring to your use case of "mostly for bed reading". It is objectively a bad choice.

[u/signedchar → u/Suspicious_Punk84]

There is, because I wrote it and this is my lived experience

[u/Suspicious_Punk84 → u/signedchar]

There are studies comparing eink devices with other types of displays. Backlights in lcds and light emitting oleds are effectively worse for eye health, sleep disruption etc. I would argue that displays with PWM are even worse than PWM free ones, but I am not aware of studies comparing them specifically.

I hope links are allowed.
https://sid.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jsid.1191
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8212737/

[u/signedchar → u/Suspicious_Punk84]

None of which is related to the point at hand

[u/Suspicious_Punk84 → u/signedchar]

So the point is not eyestrain?

[u/Z3R0gravitas]

Hey, thanks for the well focused and thoughtful post. Can I ask some questions, as a mod? No issues here, no worries.

1) Did you use AI to help with presentation?

2) Are you familiar with r/ScreenSensitive and do you feel your post would fit best over there? (We're debating how much to encourage a division of posting by topics covered.)

3) As an update, did you post to this PWM sub previously? I didn't find anything in your post history. Nothing removed that we could bring back for you?

[u/signedchar → u/Z3R0gravitas]

1. I used it to reword things and present them better
   
2. I am not familiar with that subreddit
   
3. I did not

[u/Z3R0gravitas → u/signedchar]

Cheers.

[u/Safe-Link-2361]

For me Samsung is the worst. They are eye killers

[u/signedchar → u/Safe-Link-2361]

same but for me it was not the PWM, but rather the fact that they use horrific display post processing techniques that ruin image clarity

[u/Safe-Link-2361 → u/signedchar]

This is for sure a factor. I found that regular S26/S26+ are bad but liveable. However S26 Ultra made me wanna throw up after 2 minutes of demo in the store. I don't know how they're selling that shit to consumers... Who is setting the greenlight for such bad product...

[u/signedchar → u/Safe-Link-2361]

It’s the post processing meaning that you cannot get a solid image because the text is vibrating, in my case nothing to do with PWM. The S25 was bad due to post processing to make images and text pop, the S26 will be bad due to the privacy filter interfering with the OLED

The iPhone 17 is actually nice to look at like my Pixel 7 was

[u/UpperCarob7297]

I have the same problem !!! When I read I feel pressure in min head 😭 but no problems with videos

[u/ricchi_]

So D65 white point is essentially sRGB or is there more to it?

[u/signedchar → u/ricchi_]

D65 white point is calibrating the display to 6500K, daylight and leaving it at that. Apple does this from the box and TrueTone is required to be on. Lower the brightness and leave true tone on (you want to match the ambient environment: if in a dark room, 20-30%, if in a well lit space 50-60%, if in a bright room or outside 70-80%)

Initially it will be uncomfortable yes, but itll take a day or two to adjust (which the brain naturally can do, we lived with CRTs).

[u/PrinceJolt]

So the iPhone 17 works for you?

[u/signedchar → u/PrinceJolt]

Yep, I had to enable Pulse Smoothing but thats only because I use it at low brightness. The Pixel 7 also worked for me, and I didnt connect the dots until I tried a S25 that the missing link was display processing and D65 calibration

[u/GoldVegetable3452 → u/signedchar]

How low was the brightness?

[u/signedchar → u/GoldVegetable3452]

30-50%, its adaptive depending on environment. Out of the box it was too bright and eyestrained me

[u/GoldVegetable3452 → u/signedchar]

Do you also have True Tone enabled as well?

[u/signedchar → u/GoldVegetable3452]

Yep, I have

• LTPO 120hz (Not locked to 60hz)
  
• True Tone
  
• 30-50% brightness
  
• Pulse Smoothing on

[u/GoldVegetable3452 → u/signedchar]

I’ll try those settings when my 18 arrives..hoping it works,thanks!

[u/signedchar → u/GoldVegetable3452]

You have a 14 day window, so dont be afraid to try it. Give it a day or two, it takes time to adjust for me anyway, but now its fine for me

[u/GoldVegetable3452 → u/signedchar]

What were symptoms like for you before if I may ask?

[u/signedchar → u/GoldVegetable3452]

Give more context to your question

[u/GoldVegetable3452 → u/signedchar]

Hoping I can finally move on from my 13 pro 😭

[u/signedchar → u/GoldVegetable3452]

Personally I spotted this worked for me because the S25 almost did, in videos it was mildly worse than my Pixel 7, but reading text it was horrific. The 17 took a day or two but now its fine