Some owners of Apple’s new iPhone 16 Pro models have reported issues with the screens being unresponsive at times on their shiny new smartphones. While the issue may be frustrating, there is hope it can be fixed with a future update.
Apple’s latest iPhone 16 models began hitting the hands of consumers this past Friday, with the highly anticipated iOS 18 update launching alongside the handsets. While early tests of the 16 Pro Max’s battery life impressed many, others have been saying the screen on their 16 Pro model is a bit buggy. To be more specific, users reported experiencing taps and swipes being ignored, affecting other interactions such as scrolling, pressing buttons, and missed pressed while typing on the virtual keyboard.
Mastodon user Khaos Tian believes he may have figured out what is causing the issue. In a post on his Mastodon account, Tian shared a video showing him resting his thumb on the right side of the screen, and effectively keeping any other touch input from being registered on the device. In response to another user on the platform, he remarked, “It seems if palm rejection kicked in, on iPhone 16 generation, it locks up all touch inputs.”
Others have pointed out this could also be a result of the iPhone 16’s thinner bezels, which make it easier for a user to inadvertently rest a thumb or palm on the edges of the smartphone’s screen. Being it only takes a tiny piece of skin to be in contact with the screen to trigger the touch rejection, it is possible users do not even realize they are doing so.
Incidentally, we have an iPhone 16 Pro that in-house that we’re testing for an upcoming review and have not experienced any issues of the sort. Perhaps we’re just lucky. 9to5Mac reports the problem does not seem to occur when the device is sitting dormant on the lock screen. It only occurs when the phone is unlocked when performing functions such as scrolling through apps, or swiping between home screen pages. Again, we’ve not seen this ourselves.
While the issue affects users on iOS 18 and 18.1, hopefully Apple can fix it through a future software update.
Do you have a new iPhone 16 Pro or Pro Max? If so, are you experiencing any issues with the screen being unresponsive at times? Let us know in the comments.