The iPhone 15's reported OLED burn-in issues have spread across the internet like wildfire recently, with images of iPhones with ghostly image retention appearing across Twitter/X, Reddit, and Apple's own forums.
It's fair to say, the iPhone 15 has been off to a rocky start for some. Issues such as overheating, speaker crackling, Apple Pay problems, and random nighttime shutoffs have menaced a small number of users since the smartphone's September launch.
However, the OLED issue may not be hampering iOS users much longer, as Apple believe they're found a solution – and a fix is well on its way.
iPhone OLED burn-in: Image persistence, nothing more
Many speculated that the apparent burn-in could be linked to the iPhone's overheating issues, reportedly caused by an iOS 17 software glitch. While Apple claimed to have fixed that issue with the release of iOS 17.0.3 earlier this month, some users report that the issue remains – lending favor to the notion that the iPhone 15's problems don't all reside in its software.
Thankfully, Apple have since clarified the issue, stating that what might seem like OLED burn-in is actually a case of "display image persistence." While visually similar to the effects of burn-in, image persistence is usually temporary – though typically not as noticeable as some of these cases have shown to be.
Apple believe this to be the result of another iOS 17 bug, set to be resolved with the upcoming iOS 17.1 update. But has the Cupertino Company been successful this time, and when can we expect this update to arrive?
When to expect the iOS 17.1 update
The iOS 17.1 RC (Release Candidate) has already been rolled out to public testers and developers, and is currently available in Public Beta. Early reports indicate that the iPhone's image persistence problems have been resolved with the update, along with adding new features such as AirDrop over Wi-Fi, and tweaks to StandBy mode.
The full iOS 17.1 release is expected to arrive next week starting from October 23, 2023.
Outlook
Apple have been quick to jump on these reports, and early reports from those with the iOS 17.1 RC update would appear to indicate a successful solution to the problem.
However, a number of issues still plague a small number of iPhone users, including the device randomly shutting off in the night – an issue Apple seemingly need some more time to work on as a fix won't be included in the upcoming iOS 17.1 release.
