Apple had a lot to say about its new phones during the “Awe Dropping” event Tuesday, but there were plenty of little features that couldn’t fit in the keynote. One interesting feature spotted in the iOS 26 release candidate includes a reference to an option to disable pulse width modulation (PWM) in the iPhone 17 Pro.
PWM is a method for adjusting display brightness by quickly switching the screen pixels on and off. However, some people can notice a flickering effect, and it can be particularly bothersome, causing eye strain and other health issues. At low brightness, PWM can produce better-looking results than other methods. As such, the toggle will be hidden in the Display & Text Size tab in the Accessibility settings.
Apple provides the following description:
Disables pulse width modulation to provide a different way to dim the OLED display, which can create a smoother display output at low brightness levels. Disabling PWM may affect low brightness display performance under certain conditions.
MacRumors confirmed that the setting is on the iPhone 17 Pro, but did not confirm it is on the iPhone 17 or iPhone Air.
For more on Tuesday’s iPhone 17 event, we have the complete lowdown on the iPhone Air, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, Apple Watch, and AirPods Pro 3.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.