According to the users’ accounts (mostly centered on this r/iPhone Reddit thread (opens in new tab)), this problem has been occurring at least since the arrival of iOS 16.2, but there are some reports on older versions, too. Resetting the phone doesn’t appear to make a difference either, although the problem is inconsistent, not happening with every pick-up and showing a different number of lines each time. In one instance, the user claims it happens more regularly after watching video just before locking the phone (opens in new tab). We tried to replicate the bug on an iPhone 14 Pro Max (running iOS 16.2 (20C65)), but ours behaved normally. We also tried it with the iPhone 14 Pro always-on display turned off, but that didn’t change anything. Some forum users have said that after contacting Apple Support, they were told this is an iOS 16 issue, not a hardware problem, so we can breathe a sigh of relief there. Hopefully, this means this strange issue can be addressed with a software update in the near future, something one Reddit user claims an Apple Support worker informed them of directly. iOS 16.3 is currently in beta, but that likely won’t be released publicly until spring. Ideally, Apple will patch the problem faster than that, even if this problem doesn’t seem to carry any risk to the phone from what can be seen. Beyond this issue, and a lack of supply of the most in-demand models, the iPhone 14 series launch seems to have been pretty smooth. All four models in the family are excellent, but the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max remain our favorites, even if some of them are having a weird time with these flashing lines right now. Check out our full iPhone 14 Pro review and iPhone 14 Pro Max review, as well as our list of the best phones of the year based on our testing.
