Dead Pixel Warranty Policies

How manufacturer policies are usually written

A panel is a grid of millions of pixels. Some makers do not promise that every one of them will be perfect, and they say so in a pixel policy or in the specification for that model. Where a written policy exists, it tends to do some of the following. This is a description of the pattern, not a quote from any brand:

• Count dark pixels and bright pixels separately. Bright dots are often allowed in smaller numbers than dark ones, and sometimes not at all, because they show on film and games.
• Treat a cluster of faults more strictly than the same number of faults spread across the panel.
• Count a central zone more strictly than the outer edge, or ignore the edge.
• Name a fault class from a display standard, instead of a homemade count. The class that matters is the one named for your model.
• Apply for a shorter period than the rest of the warranty.

A policy for a desktop monitor is not the policy for a laptop, a phone or a television with the same logo on it. A page that still quotes a quota from years ago may be describing a document the maker has replaced. Read the one for your exact model number, in the country where you bought it.

ISO 9241-307 pixel fault classes

ISO 9241-307:2008 sets compliance test methods for electronic visual displays. Its catalogue entry lists that edition as current. When a monitor specification names a pixel fault class, this is the standard it is usually pointing at. The standard is paid, and this page does not reproduce its tables.

Descriptions of that classification, including ones published by display makers, divide faults into three kinds:

• A pixel that stays bright. Often called a hot pixel. The whole pixel fails to switch off.
• A pixel that stays dark. A dead pixel. It never lights.
• A subpixel fault. One red, green or blue element stays bright or stays dark. That is the stuck subpixel, or a single dead subpixel, described on the dead versus stuck page.

Those kinds are widely labelled type 1, type 2 and type 3, in that order. Panels are then placed in a class. The classes run from stricter to more permissive. The allowed count is not one flat number for every screen: it depends on the class, on the fault type, and on how many pixels the panel has. Faults clustered together are limited separately from faults scattered across the panel.

Second-hand copies of the numeric table do not all agree. The older ISO 13406-2 class table is a different document, and that standard has been withdrawn and replaced by the ISO 9241-302, 303, 305 and 307 series. A quota copied from it is not automatically the ISO 9241-307 allowance for your panel. ISO/TR 9241-310 discusses the visibility and appearance of pixel defects. ISO’s own abstract says that report does not itself set the requirements.

This page does not print a class-by-class quota. A wrong number is worse than none. Use the class named in your model’s specification, and the text of that specification, rather than a table from a forum.

Where to read the policy for your brand

The links below open the maker’s support site, or a help page that tells you which maker to contact. They are starting points for a model search. They are not a statement of how many pixels that company allows.

For a laptop or a phone, run the colour test before you contact anyone, so you can say whether the dot is dead, stuck or hot.

How to prepare a claim

1. Identify the exact product. Write down the brand, the model number and the serial number from the label or the system settings, plus the date and the shop you bought it from. A policy for a different size or a different year does not apply.
2. Run the colour test and note the pattern. Record whether the dot is dark on white, coloured on black, or bright on black, and which of red, green and blue hide it. That is the difference between a dead pixel, a stuck pixel and a hot pixel.
3. Photograph the panel. Take the photo straight on, on the colour where the fault is easiest to see. Include the model label in a second shot if the first cannot show both. A speck that wipes off is not the panel.
4. Read the policy for that model, and your statutory rights. Search the maker's support site for that model number and pixel policy. Do not reuse a number from a forum or from another brand. In the UK the Consumer Rights Act 2015 still applies to the retailer, separate from the manufacturer's chart.
5. Contact the seller first if you are the buyer. In the UK the contract is with the retailer. Send the notes, the photos and the purchase date. Keep the packaging if you are still inside a return window. This page cannot file the claim for you.

If you bought in the UK, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 sits alongside any manufacturer chart. Goods have to be of satisfactory quality. The retailer is responsible for that, not only the maker. There is a short-term right to reject, and the time limit is 30 days. After that, the retailer can usually repair or replace first. If goods do not conform to the contract at any time within six months of delivery, they are taken not to have conformed on the day of delivery, unless it is shown that they did, or that presumption does not fit the goods or the failure. That is section 19 of the Act.

A manufacturer policy that “allows” a bright pixel does not, by itself, cancel those rights. This is general information, not legal advice. Citizens Advice explains the practical steps for a faulty purchase. Outside the UK, start with the seller’s return rules and the written warranty that came with the product. There is no single federal pixel quota this page can point you at.

Common questions