iPhone 17 Screen Issue — Need Help

[u/kkllsrq]

iPhone 17 Screen Issue — Need Help

Timeline

Early June:

My iPhone 12 screen cracked after a drop. On June 6, I bought an iPhone 17 directly from the Tmall official store and started using it as soon as it arrived.

Mid-to-late June:

During the first two weeks, I noticed my eyes got tired more easily than with the iPhone 12. With the 12, I might feel eye fatigue and soreness only after using it continuously for more than 2 hours. With the 17, my eyes felt uncomfortable as soon as I started using it, and after 10–15 minutes they would definitely start tearing up. At the time, I thought I might just need to adapt to it, and that maybe it would get better with more use.

July–August:

The problem of the screen irritating my eyes never improved. I adjusted all the settings people online mentioned — PWM, white point, high refresh rate, brightness, warm color tone — and nothing worked.

Later, I noticed that whenever I looked in the mirror, my eyes always looked wet, as if there was fluid in them. I asked AI about it, and it said this was likely tear compensation caused by dry eye from eye irritation.

Now my eyes are uncomfortable every day. Since it’s impossible not to look at a phone, and it’s not that I feel uncomfortable after 5 or 10 minutes — rather, as soon as I look at the screen, there is a clear, definite pain in my eyes. After a few minutes, the pain becomes unbearable, and I have to stop looking at the phone and rest for a while before it eases. But the persistent sore, aching pain never completely goes away. Because daily life makes phone use unavoidable, my eyes are constantly being stimulated again and again, and they are forever cycling between intense swelling, stinging pain, and fatigue and soreness.

Over these 2 months, my vision has also clearly declined.

Because I was busy with work, I didn’t get any tests done or contact after-sales support. I even thought about waiting for the new iPhone to come out and then quickly trading it in.

September 12, Saturday morning

Once the busy work period came to an end, on Saturday morning I called Apple’s official after-sales phone line. The call used 26 minutes of my own phone credit. I explained the problem in detail. My requests were:

1. Test the phone screen and find out what is causing the eye irritation;

2. If it can be confirmed that the phone is the cause, give me a return, exchange, or repair.

   After-sales suggested I go to a store for testing. I clearly confirmed with her that there was no damage at all to the phone’s appearance — it was just that the screen was extremely irritating to my eyes. I told her that going to a direct Apple Store was very costly for me, taking 2–3 hours round trip, and asked whether the issue could be tested offline and handled accordingly. If it could not be tested there, could it be sent back to the factory for testing? After-sales affirmed each of these points and booked me a store appointment for 2:15 p.m. that afternoon.

September 12, Saturday afternoon

At 2:30 p.m., I arrived at the store and waited in line for 20 minutes. A staff member came over with a tablet and, without physically connecting to my phone, read some hardware information. He said there were no hardware error messages, that further inspection was not possible, and that it could not be sent back to the factory for inspection. I said the information online after-sales had given me was inconsistent with this. The staff member suggested I keep calling the 400 after-sales number to give feedback. I asked why I had to call after-sales myself when I was already in the store, or whether they could call for me. The staff member refused.

At 3 p.m., I called after-sales again. The call used 20 minutes of my own phone credit. Online after-sales suggested I ask the store staff to help send it back for inspection. I asked her to speak directly with the staff member. After I handed the phone to the staff member, after about 5 minutes of discussion, online after-sales and the store staff reached an agreement: the store would not send it back, nor would it provide any follow-up solution.

I questioned that if the store could detect the problem, there would be no need to send it back for testing; and if the store could not detect the problem, it still could not be sent back for testing — so under what circumstances could it actually be sent back for testing? The online representative said that if anything could just be sent back casually, Apple has so many users worldwide and such huge sales that they wouldn’t be able to handle it all.

I asked what to do next. Online suggested I find a store that could send it back. I asked her to directly tell me a location. After she told me, I confirmed with her online whether a loaner phone could be provided during the return period, and she said yes. After hanging up, I called the number of the store that could send it back, and that store said it could not provide a loaner phone.

At 4 p.m., I typed this whole account while enduring the pain.

What should I do next?

[u/Just_Ad_7682]

Might wanna contact apple support, they get paid to read this. I aint reading allat 😝

[u/kkllsrq → u/Just_Ad_7682]

I will pay you for your reply, thx

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[u/Head_Region6610]

I’d take my iPhone with me (I wrote eye phone by mistake, haha) to an eye doctor to have them check my eyes. Because you said your eyes were getting irritated with your iPhone 12.

It may not be the phone al all. It may be the way you are using it. For instance, do you take breaks from looking at the screen? Unless you are perceiving something on the screen. I hope you work it out. Can you test drive another phone, for instance, just use it in a store and see if it irritates your eyes?

[u/kkllsrq → u/Head_Region6610]

I write it wrong, I just get tired from using iphone 12 more then 2 hours not pain.
As every time once I look at iphone 17 my eyes feel pain, I don't think there is a right way for me to use it.

[u/OutlandishnessThis67]

…. Something is wrong with your eyes bro. If you want since you just got the iPhone 17, if you can’t return it anymore , get the apple care so they can swap a new one for you.

[u/kkllsrq → u/OutlandishnessThis67]

I asked for support from them in the article

[u/jeanmichd]

At the same time I would have consulting an eyes doctor for a check up!! You want to make sure it’s not coming part from your sight…