The iPhone 17 models include an Accessibility setting to disable pulse width modulation (PWM), according to information found in the iOS 26 release candidate.
There will be a toggle located in the Display and Text Size section of the Accessibility settings on the iPhone 17, labeled "Display Pulse Smoothing." Users will be able to turn PWM on, or turn it off. A description:
Disables pulse width modulation to provide a different way to dim the OLED display, which can create a smoother display output at low brightness levels. Disabling PWM may affect low brightness display performance under certain conditions.
We have confirmed that the PWM toggle is available on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. It's also likely available on the iPhone Air.
Pulse width modulation is used for adjusting the brightness of a display. PWM is designed to quickly switch LED or OLED pixels on or off to control the brightness that people perceive. Some users are bothered by PWM and can see a flickering at lower brightness levels.
Affected users often complain of eye strain, headaches, and other symptoms, but it is a technology that display makers use because it is energy efficient. The iPhone 17 models could provide those who are bothered by PWM with a fix.
Update: This article has been updated to clarify that the setting to turn off PWM is available on all iPhone 17 models.
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Great, now there's one less thing for all 10 of you to complain about.
It affects many people. Why do you think "flicker free" monitors and TVs became a thing several years ago? Why have OLED TV manufacturers worked to eliminate flicker? Many Android phones, including the Pixel 10 Pro finally, have this option to reduce PWM flicker. This feature is huge and I'm very happy to see Apple doing this.
