Serious display issue has some iPhone 16 Pro users hoping it’s a software issue

It seems that several iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max users are complaining that the screens on their new phones are having trouble responding. Nobody likes a laggy touchscreen, especially when that touchscreen is attached to a device you spent $999 or more on. And why spend that much money on a phone whose display not only lags, but in many cases, outright ignores your taps, swipes, and scrolls.

If there’s anything good that’s come out of the online complaints, it’s that the problem appears to be software-related and has nothing to do with a hardware issue. That means Apple won’t have to recall phones that don’t work and issue replacements. Instead, a simple software update may be all that’s needed to end the suffering iPhone 16 Pro AND iPhone 16 Pro Max satisfied users.

“If the skin accidentally touches the area next to the new camera button, the entire screen will stop responding until it is released, except for the home bar. That’s the only area that causes the problem… I’m not sure if it’s the OS or a hardware defect caused by the introduction of the camera button. It seems to me that it’s more of a system bug caused by palm rejection. A workaround for now is to try to avoid the area or use your left hand more often.”-u/Known_Tap_1462, iPhone 16 Pro series user

There may be a problem with iOS’s touch rejection algorithm, which is designed to prevent unintended touches that might do something to the phone that the user didn’t intend. If this program is too sensitive, it can cause intended touches to be ignored. Accidentally touching part of the display can cause the phone to reject all new touches for a short period of time. Some people complain that their new touches are ignored when their finger is near the new Camera Control button on the right side of the display.

Accidentally touching this small area inside the semi-circle causes input rejection on the iPhone 16 Pro series. | Image source: u/LucasCBs, Reddit subscriber

Another reason why this is happening now could be the new, thinner bezels in iPhone 16 Pro compared to last year’s iPhone 15 Pro. The loss of some protection against accidental touches on the screen could cause the phone to consider such a touch as an error and reject it.

This wouldn’t be the first time Apple has had to deal with a problem discovered in a newly released iPhone model. You may recall that back in June 2010, the iPhone 4 suffered from what would later be called Antennagate. The newly-released iPhone 4’s new antenna placement caused the device to lose antenna signal strength when held a certain way, leading to Steve Jobs’ famous quip about iPhone 4 users holding their phones the wrong way. Apple eventually gave out free rubber bumpers to stop the attenuation.

To help stop the problem with iPhone 16 Pro AND iPhone 16 Pro Maxusing a case may be the best solution, as it can cover part of the display and make it harder to accidentally hit the part of the screen that triggers iOS touch rejection. The problem occurs on iPhone 16 Pro phones with iOS 18 and iOS18.1 beta. This also doesn’t happen when the phone is locked. So be careful with your iPhone 16 Pro the series screen is stubborn when swiping between home screen pages and apps.

Let’s hope Apple delivers iOS18 update that will fix this issue and make it iPhone 16 Pro Or iPhone 16 Pro Max resize responsive.