iPhone X: Apple to release update to stop new phone's screen breaking when it's too cold

An iOS update is incoming

Andrew Griffin
Friday 10 November 2017 09:39 GMT
Comments
iPhone X: Review with David Phelan

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The new iPhone X doesn't like the cold.

Numerous reports suggest that the brand new phone's brand new screen has trouble if the temperature is too low. That has led to a number of people going outside and finding their phone work for some time, before resetting itself and starting working.

Both Apple and other manufacturers warn that their phones might behave unusually if they're taken into extreme cold or heat, and that if they are the handsets might operate differently to regulate their temperature. Being in the cold, for instance, can cause phone batteries to temporarily reduce their life.

But the new problem, which has been recognised by Apple, appears to be new. And it says it will be fixing it soon.

“We are aware of instances where the iPhone X screen will become temporarily unresponsive to touch after a rapid change to a cold environment," Apple told The Loop. "After several seconds the screen will become fully responsive again. This will be addressed in an upcoming software update.”

The problems were first reported on Reddit by a user calling themself Darius 214.

"I’ve noticed that my iPhone X screen becomes very unresponsive as soon as I step outside," they wrote. "It literally takes 2 seconds from going inside to the cold outdoors and my screen stops being very responsive. I try swiping on websites and it doesn’t register my finger. It’s very noticeable. Is anyone else having this problem?"

It's not clear how cold the weather needs to be before the iPhone X starts having problems. Most people responded to the Reddit post to say their phone was working fine, both outside and inside.

The new iPhone X's "Super Retina" display uses an OLED screen technology that Apple has never used in a phone before. But the introduction of that new screen has passed mostly without event up until now, even as rival companies like Google face troubles with the same sort of tech.

iPhones and other handsets can also have problems with getting too hot. If they do, then they'll show a message and then shut down in an attempt to stop damaging themselves with the heat they're generating.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in