iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max users report appearance of horizontal lines when turning on [U: fixed on iOS 16.3]

Several iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max users are experiencing a booting issue. As per complaints across social media, green and yellow horizontal lines flash on the display for a few seconds when the smartphones are being turned on.

In September, Apple released the iOS 16 and launched the latest flagship iPhone 14 series. Since then owners of iPhone 14 Pro models have reported various issues like laggy and stuttering animations, GPS, shaky camera, and others. Luckily all issues were software related and were patched in different updates. Now, it is speculated that this booting issue is also software related.

[Jan 18 update: Apple has seeded iOS 16.3 RC which includes a fix for the horizontal lines appearing on iPhone 14 Pro Max. The release notes read, “Fixes an issue where horizontal lines may temporarily appear while waking up iPhone 14 Pro Max.]

[Jan 13 update: In a new memo, Apple has acknowledged the issues and said that its fix coming soon in an upcoming iOS update. The document seen by MacRumors reads, “when they power on or unlock their phone, they briefly see horizontal lines flash across the screen. Apple is aware of the issue and a software update is coming soon that will resolve the issue.”

iPhone 14 Pro

Latest iOS 16.2 might be responsible for the display issue on iPhone 14 Pro models

An affected user @ reported on Apple Support Forum said that horizontal lines appeared randomly on their brand-new iPhone 14 Pro Max when the smartphone woke up but the occurrence became more frequent after watching a video. The user did not remember seeing the issue prior to updating to iOS 16.2

I got brand new iPhone and I noticed that when the phone wakes up, horizontal lines flash on the screen. It doesn’t happen everytime, just randomly. But it occurs more often when you watch video before your screen turns off.

I don’t remember I saw those lines before iOS 16.2 but I have that phone just for 2 weeks. I visited a reddit forum and 4 people said they have the same issue which means (hopefully) it should not be a hardware issue. But I need to know more.

iPhone 14 Pro

A Reddit user @1LastOutlaw was told by an Apple technician that the horizontal lines issue was not a hardware-related issue and had to do with software.

I just got the iPhone 14 Pro Max this past Friday(12/9/22). I noticed that when the phone wakes up, horizontal lines flash on the screen. It does that randomly, not every time the phone wakes up. Sometimes it’s just 1 line, sometimes it’s multiple. I t ook it to Apple, and they ran diagnostics, and everything came back fine(green).

The technician told me that their isn’t an issue with the hardware, that it’s has to do the software. He told me to erase my iPhone to start as a new iPhone, and that could fix the problem. I already did that, but it’s still happening. I just updated the phone with iOS 16.2, and it’s still doing that. Is anyone else experiencing this? What could it be?

iPhone 14 Pro

iPhone 14 Pro models feature a 120Hz, Always-On Display with a 1Hz refresh rate and Dynamic Island. Apple’s next update iOS 16.3 is currently in the beta testing phase and is expected to release in early 2023. Maybe, the company will seed a minor update to fix the issue.

About the Author

Addicted to social media and in love with iPhone, started blogging as a hobby. And now it's my passion for every day is a new learning experience. Hopefully, manufacturers will continue to use innovative solutions and we will keep on letting you know about them.

Leave a comment