Here’s an oversimplified explanation: OLED displays don’t really have a global brightness setting—they just turn off and on many times per second to give the illusion of lower brightness. The rate at which this happens is called the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) rate.
Although it isn’t immediately apparent when just glancing at an OLED display for a few seconds, a low flicker rate can interfere with vision after prolonged use, or just a few seconds if, like Sutrich, you’re one of the unlucky people particularly sensitive to this, then even a short while looking at one of the affected displays is enough to cause eye strain, headaches, and potentially worse effects.. The visual effect is exacerbated when the display is set to a low brightness, making matters worse.
You’d assume that cheaper phones would be more prone to OLED flicker issues, but it turns out that Google’s Pixel and some iPhone models are actually among the worst offenders, with the Pixels having a rate as low as 246Hz, or just slightly twice the display’s native refresh rate. Conversely, phones from Honor and OnePlus reportedly have flicker-free displays with high PWM rates. The Steam Deck’s OLED display has been catching flak over this exact matter over at the dedicated “PWMSensitive” sub-Reddit.
The reason why some phone manufacturers opt for lower PWM rates is so the display appears brighter to the eye. Some makers reportedly use a hybrid configuration in which the panel has a low flicker rate at high brightness and vice-versa. In Sutrich’s case, he went as far as digging up what system configuration variable set the PWM rate and rooted his Pixel 8 Pro to change it, but such technical tomfoolery is beyond the average user’s reach. Additionally, having a rooted phone will preclude most home banking apps from working, particularly but not exclusively in Euroland, as yours truly can attest to.
After inquiring the major manufacturers and getting nothing but flicker back, Sutrich eventually heard from a Google engineer familiar with the subject, who says the company is “aware and investigating” complaints about the low PWM rates. More importantly, the engineer said to expect “updates later this year,” possibly implying that the Pixel 10 handset might have an improved display.
Alternatively, there’s always the option of adding an accessibility feature to existing handsets to reduce flicker by increasing the PWM rate, at the cost of brightness. We’ll have to wait and see which direction Google goes.
