Yesterday, Apple unveiled the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, all with a variety of new features and specifications. However, one feature wasn’t discussed during the presentation but is worth mentioning.
Apple has addressed an issue related to pulse width modulation (PWM) used for dimming the screen. PWM works by rapidly turning the screen off and on, which can cause eye strain, headaches, and other symptoms in sensitive individuals, particularly at low brightness levels. The company now offers a solution.
In the Accessibility settings, users can find an option called “Display Pulse Smoothing.” When enabled, this feature disables PWM, providing a smoother display output at low brightness levels. The description notes that turning off PWM may affect display performance at low brightness under certain conditions.
This feature will be beneficial for those sensitive to PWM, offering a much-needed improvement. On the Android side, most manufacturers, aside from Samsung and Google, have attempted to mitigate this issue by using higher PWM rates, which tend to have less of an impact on most users.