Like many high-profile hardware releases, the launch of the iPhone 15 was not without its problems for Apple. While most of the early iPhone 15 problems have been addressed in some form, new issues have emerged that may be difficult to counter.

In X, Tarun Vats highlights the fate of many iPhone 15 Pro Max handsets that appear to be suffering from some sort of image retention, obtained from both Reddit and Apple's own discussion forum.

It is unclear how widespread the problem is, but at least four users have reported similar issues in the Reddit thread.

Vats specifically calls the problem "screen burn," but given that the device has been on the market for less than a month, it seems likely that it is a temporary image retention.

Screen burn-in (permanent etching of an image onto an OLED screen) takes much longer and requires the same image to remain in place for some time. In the past, static images such as channel logos and news tickers were particularly susceptible and were a major problem with OLED TVs, but screen savers and pixel refresh software have made this almost a non-issue in recent years.

But even if the iPhone problem is not the dictionary definition of burn-in, there is clearly something wrong with the affected phones.

One could also point to the always-on display, which is exclusive to the Pro models, as being to blame. However, given that last year's iPhone 14 Pro model also included this feature and has been on the market for over a year without incident, I don't think that is the answer. Perhaps the always-on display and the new brighter panel, which can reach up to 2,000 nits brightness, is a bad combination for some users.

For now, this is a handful of isolated incidents and we hope it stays that way. However, this story may not be over yet, as the device has only been on the market for a month.

In the meantime, if you are affected, you should get yourself to an Apple store and see if the company's technicians can help you with either a fix or a replacement.