It is common for new Android phones to launch with some weird issues or bugs. Typically, the device manufacturer rolls out an OTA update days (or weeks) after a phone’s launch to address all the reported issues. Google’s latest Pixels are no different, with manyPixel 8 Prousers reporting ayellow and reddish-pink tint on the Always On Display. If you were worried that you received a faultyPixel 8unit, that’s not the case. Google has acknowledged the bug and promised a fix in a future Android release.
The tinting problem primarily happens at super-low brightness levels and when the 1Hz refresh rate is used. To replicate the problem on your phone, enable Always On Display, go to a dark room, and wait 5 seconds for the screen to drop the refresh rate to 1Hz. You might notice uneven color banding, with the text having a pink or yellowish tint.
Forcing Always On Display to work at a 120Hz refresh rate reportedly resolved the issue for some Pixel 8 Pro users. But this comes at the expense of extra battery drain. There are theories that the tinting happens because the Pixel 8 Pro’s AMOLED panel does not have 100% grayscale uniformity. This causes the individual red, green, and blue pixels to overshadow other colors, which is more evident at lower brightness and refresh rates.
An affected Pixel 8 user posted the issue on theAndroid public trackersoon after the phone’s launch. Since then, multiple users chimed in, confirming they are also noticing a tint in Always On Display. A Googler has marked the problem as resolved and noted the fix “will become available in a future Android release.”
The November 2023 security patch for the Pixels should arrive next week and might contain the fix. If the build was finalized before the issue was patched, Pixel 8 users may have to wait until the December Pixel Feature Drop for the issue to be resolved. Before that, Google could roll out the fix as a part of a newAndroid 14 QPR1 betarelease.
The company’s workaround to the problem could include increasing the brightness of Always On Display or bumping the minimum refresh rate to 10Hz. This could also explain why the issue is not present on the smaller Pixel 8, as its OLED panel cannot drop the refresh rate to as low as 1Hz.
It has become relatively common for new smartphones with OLED panels to exhibit tinting at low brightness levels. This is not even the first time a Pixel phone has had tinting issues. The Pixel 4 XL also showed a green tint at low brightness levels, whichGoogle eventually fixed with a software update.
