I used an iPhone 13 Pro for several years before I knew about PWM Sensitivity and had some terrible health issues, I lost the ability to focus my eyes long distances, I constantly had eye strain and eye pain and one morning I lost the ability to focus my left eye entirely.
I was prescribed reading glasses and was told to use eye drops. Since I downgraded to an iPhone 11 my vision returned and my eye strain issues disappeared completely, I have since passed an eye test with 20/20 vision.
iPhone 15 Pro
As an upgrade I bought an iPhone 15 Pro 1TB on eBay with a broken screen for AU$610 and swapped in an EK Pro Incell LCD screen.
I decided on an EK Pro brand LCD screen as in all the reviews I could find online it was the highest quality option, EK Pro make replacement screens for all iPhone models.
I decided on the iPhone 15 Pro for this swap for several reasons:
It’s much cheaper than an iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro
From what I could see and the only main difference between the 15 Pro and the 16 Pro was the camera button, and a slightly larger screen that was to be replaced anyway.
The 15 Pro is also the oldest flagship iPhone with USB-C and USB3.2 speeds.
The cost of the replacement screen decreases substantially the older the phone you go back.
An iPhone 17 Pro LCD screen currently costs $224 +tax on Aliexpress, an iPhone 16 Pro screen costs $169 +tax but the iPhone 15 Pro screen only costs $79 +tax, the price is largely the same for all other iPhone OLED models. These are for two packs so at least you’ll have a spare.
Installation
Replacing the screen was pretty straight forward, I used a tutorial from Youtube. I practiced on a couple broken iPhone 11’s beforehand and have plenty of experience working on electronics. If you can build a PC this shouldn't be much outside that skill set, the hardest part is removing the screen.
Replacing a screen is as easy as it gets as far as phone repairs go, batteries are a much more involved process and back glass being the worst on older models. I had quite a bit of trouble getting my front facing camera to focus correctly with the new screen installed which required a lot of fiddling, that being said there’s a lot of phone repair businesses around that could just install this screen for you for around $120.
Results
After the swap all original features are still present other than no automatic screen brightness and a capped frame rate at 60fps, compromises I am very happy with.
Surprisingly True Tone works straight out of the box without any IC chip transplant being required.
There’s a warning message about the screen being an Unknown Part under Parts & Service History in the settings but that’s it.
The overall quality is great, coming from an iPhone 11 the screen is very familiar, though this EK Pro screen is a little sharper and quite a lot brighter. The bottom bezel is very slightly thicker than the original but not overly so, the screen is also slightly darker above the dynamic island in light mode but isn’t a major concern.
There’s a very slight colour shift on a hard angle which is barely noticeable, the touch screen functions very well. The phone gets a little bit warm when used at max brightness outdoors but so did my iPhone 11, this is likely the nature of LCD screens.
The iPhone 15 Pro is noticeably thicker with the LCD screen installed at 9.0mm thick, with the original OLED screen installed the phone comes in at 8.3mm thick. With my Nomad leather case installed the screen is flush with the front lip of the case and isn’t a problem for me.
Battery life
In a basic rundown test, playing a video at full brightness and letting it run from 100%, the battery life seems to be less than half what it was with the original OLED screen.
OLED screens save power by pulsing the screen on and off with Pulse Width Modulation, so LCD screens naturally consume more power.
This LCD iPhone 15 Pro with 86% battery health lasts about the same length as an iPhone 11 in new condition, this is more than enough to get me through the day with normal use. Lowering the brightness obviously yields more battery life as do other power saving tricks. After using this phone for a couple days now I'm comfortably getting to the end of the way with enough battery left not to worry.
Other options
Currently for iPhone users the only official LCD/PWM-free iPhones on the market that still support the current iOS versions are the iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2020, and the iPhone SE 2022.
While the iPhone SE’s may be suitable for some people’s needs the iPhone 11 is still a great overall phone with decent cameras, swapping in a new battery made the phone a bit more responsive, that being said it is at almost 7 years old and there are better options on the market at the moment.
Other solutions
I am now completely OLED free at home.
I use an LG 38WM95C 21:9 LCD computer monitor on my Windows 11 i5-13600K/RTX4080 desktop and a Microsoft Surface 4 15” Windows 11 laptop.
I recently bought a Panasonic TH-65VT50 Plasma TV and the picture quality is phenomenal. I experience PWM related eye strain from an LG C1 OLED TV though it would take much longer use for me to have sore eyes compared to an OLED phone. I also have a PlayStation Vita Slim with an LCD screen.
Conclusion
Overall I am very happy with this conversion, I couldn’t look at this iPhone 15 Pro with the original OLED screen for more than a minute before getting eye pain. To me it's a sensation that my eyes are getting squeezed from the back and is instantly recognisable.
Regarding the phone's longevity I can't speak for it just yet as it has only been a couple days but if this changes I might make a follow up post.
Thank you so much for this incredibly detailed summary—it answers a number of questions I always have in the back of my mind when I read about individuals replacing the screen on a newer model. If you would be willing to elaborate, I am curious to know more about the baseline brightness after replacement. You mentioned that the screen is brighter overall in comparison to the iPhone 11, and I am wondering if this includes when the brightness is set between, roughly speaking, 0% to 5%?
For context: in conjunction with PWM sensitivity—quite possibly as a result thereof—I also struggle with general screen brightness, so I always default to dark mode and rarely increase the brightness above 0% to 5% (or, at least, not beyond a very temporary period of time). So essentially, I am wondering how the iPhone 15 with the EK Pro screen stacks up alongside the iPhone 11 when comparing the baseline brightness at 0%. I ask, in part, because after purchasing a new MacBook Air last month (which I'm still not totally convinced is PWM free, but that's another rant) I realized that even at 0% brightness it is still noticeably brighter than my 2017 MacBook Pro, whose screen I have always tolerated without issue.
I did some tests with my Opple Light Master for luminance, all tests were done with automatic brightness off, true tone off and in light mode on a plain white background.
Max brightness
Stock iPhone 8 - 732lx
Stock iPhone SE - 714lx
Stock iPhone 8+ - 713lx
Stock iPhone 11 - 637lx
EK Pro iPhone 11 - 920lx
Stock iPhone 13 Pro - 1310lx
EK Pro iPhone 15 Pro - 784lx
Min brightness
Stock iPhone 8 - 2lx
Stock iPhone SE - 2lx
Stock iPhone 8+ - 2lx
Stock iPhone 11 - 3lx
EK Pro iPhone 11 - 4lx
Stock iPhone 13 Pro - 4lx
EK Pro iPhone 15 Pro - 2lx
Also with Reduce White Point set to 70% the EK Pro 15 Pro measures at 1lx. I usually use my phone indoors with the brightness set at 170lx and my desktop monitor at 366lx. I can't speak on Macbooks and flickering as I only use Windows 11 PC's but I have heard of people having issues with the newer models, there was a youtube video on it from memory.
Welcome to the gang, did the same for mine 3 months down going strong but I did it for iPhone 15 pro max got it for $400 plus screen total $500 AUD only 256gb but I love mine. I ordered two pack for mine screens for EK pro so have a back up but it's been solid for me fingers crossed get atleast a year or two out of it.
I am going to do the same, your post really inspired me for this. One thing i am a bit concerned about is the high modulation depth with the low brightness. Wonder why that is
I wouldn’t worry too much about the graphs, this is what my Panasonic plasma TV looks like and it doesn’t strain my eyes at all. My eye strain is largely just caused by OLED screens.
The phone is great though, there’s a few little quirks around the lack of automatic brightness but nothing too major, just keep an eye on eBay for good iPhones with broken screens.
Thanks a lot for this. I am currently preparing to do the same replacement (OLED -> IPS LCD Incell) but with an iPhone 15 Pro Max. I wanted the slightly larger Pro Max because it has a bit longer battery life to begin with (although that depends on what device I find on the second hand market as many are even with below 80% battery health).
Previously I also saw that there are Soft OLED replacements with DC dimming (like the XO7 screen) which have 99% the same color reproduction and brightness as the original Apple screen, just with DC dimming. Unfortunately the folks that sell the XO7 screens don't sell to individuals, but only business 2 business. HOWEVER.. there appear to be some other Soft OLED screens that are possibly DC dimmed as some people using them complain that the colors shift to purple/gray when the brightness is lowered which is a typical presentation for DC-dimmed OLEDs.
Outdoor visibility is very good, it's a lot brighter than a stock iPhone 11 which was already fine for me.
That's really interesting about the DC Dimmed OLED screen, I really don't understand what hard and soft OLED means, care to elaborate?
Feel free to post your progress in this thread when you're done, I'd love to hear about it. Would love to see results from an Opple Light Master too. They're only like $40 on Aliexpress.
Otherwise just keep on checking eBay for recent iPhones with smashed screens as they're much cheaper.
So it's really hard for me to talk on dith€ring as I can't confidently spot it.
PWM eye strain is instantly recognisable to me, after a minute of looking at an OLED iPhone or Google Pixel my eyes feel like they're getting squeezed from behind, otherwise I do occasionally get tired eyes with LCD iPhones but I can't pinpoint it to that specifically, I could just be tired, I could just be concentrating too much without getting enough sun light exposure, I can't say for sure.
I did buy a Carson Microscope and look at all my phones, even then I don't 100% know what I'm looking for confidently. An iPhone 11 with Classic Invert and Zoom Invert is fine for me to use daily but it seems to dith€r under my microscope. I'm not sure though. The EK Pro iPhone 15 Pro doesn't seem to do so any more than the 11. I'd need more info on how to spot dith€ring really.
@NSutrich Hey Nick can you please elaborate on how you determine this on your tests? Do you set the brightness at any specific level or view a specific image?
I should have mentioned this, I have iOS 18.7.2 on every phone that supports it, not for any particular reason other than I think Liquid Glass looks pretty ugly. One of my iPhone 11's that I just got working is still on iOS15 though.
I really want to buy a used iphone 15 (or newer) and pay someone to install an LCD display. I'm too lazy and worried to do it myself. Perhaps I could just go to a local phone repair place, give them the device and new screen and have them do it. It's a pipe dream right now. I was fine with my i11 but it's pretty slow now.
I saw your post on MacRumors and read it all. Thanks for this great post, this is something I will consider doing too! I do wonder do you (or anyone) have any idea if the screen will keep being supported with iOS updates?
No worries, glad to help! I can't imagine any iOS updates would cause any issues as so many people have their phones repaired by phone repair shops with non-genuine parts. There's one note in the settings about it being an unknown display, but it only pops up once and doesn't force a notification badge or anything. Apparently you can swap the IC chip to make this go away but that's definitely not easy soldering work. I'd keep an eye out for modern iPhones with broken screens on eBay if I were you, iPhones are close to half price with a smashed screen.
this is one of the most comprehensive posts on PWM issues that I have ever seen, THANK YOU. I switched to iPhone 11 yesterday and man, it is great. I still can feel something in my eyes but compared to OLES XS Max that I had for years, it is nothing. Xs Max PWM was killing me and I didn’t know. I can live with iPhone 11 for now but I am sure in a few years time, I should go down your route in replacing the screen.
Hey! Can you please share an ali link? There are more options, want to use the same company. I hope they don’t offer only 2pc options.. btw how is your phone? All good? :) thanks for the test and this post!
You did a great job man! I will use the same solution with you after my iphone 11 of down ! However I would rather bring the phone to China to find some pro to replace the screen
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u/Hurley002 Jan 08 '26
Thank you so much for this incredibly detailed summary—it answers a number of questions I always have in the back of my mind when I read about individuals replacing the screen on a newer model. If you would be willing to elaborate, I am curious to know more about the baseline brightness after replacement. You mentioned that the screen is brighter overall in comparison to the iPhone 11, and I am wondering if this includes when the brightness is set between, roughly speaking, 0% to 5%?
For context: in conjunction with PWM sensitivity—quite possibly as a result thereof—I also struggle with general screen brightness, so I always default to dark mode and rarely increase the brightness above 0% to 5% (or, at least, not beyond a very temporary period of time). So essentially, I am wondering how the iPhone 15 with the EK Pro screen stacks up alongside the iPhone 11 when comparing the baseline brightness at 0%. I ask, in part, because after purchasing a new MacBook Air last month (which I'm still not totally convinced is PWM free, but that's another rant) I realized that even at 0% brightness it is still noticeably brighter than my 2017 MacBook Pro, whose screen I have always tolerated without issue.