This was exactly my experience. iPhone 15 pro gave me eye fatigue, nausea, etc. Returned it and got a 15 plus, which has been fine for me. I looked at the OLED m4 iPads in store and had the same symptoms within 5-10 minutes. I purchased a 13" m2 air and love the screen, no issues. Additionally, I found the 13" iPad Air screen much better than the 11" m2 air screen. I don't think it's a promotion thing because my old 2020 iPad Pro 12.9 gave me no problems. Perhaps it's some combination of PWM and panel manufacturer?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Pro Downgraded M4 back to iPad Pro M1 - Much better for the eyes!
- Thread starter erkanasu
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I am sure the M4 ipads are Super Great. My wife had a 11” iPP AZ12 and I used a 13” iPP M1. I decided to upgrade to the M2 iPad Air and trade in the 11 inch. I got $330, about 1/3 purchase price.
My wife now has the M1 and I have the new M2 Air. Both 13 inch on Magic keyboards. I find the M2 Air just as great as the M1 Pro if not better. One thing for sure the battery life is much better. I was going to get the M4 13” but what steered me to the M2 air was better battery life. The screen of the M2 air is crisp And I would not now it is not pro motion. It is noticeable lighter than my wife’s new setup as well.
My wife now has the M1 and I have the new M2 Air. Both 13 inch on Magic keyboards. I find the M2 Air just as great as the M1 Pro if not better. One thing for sure the battery life is much better. I was going to get the M4 13” but what steered me to the M2 air was better battery life. The screen of the M2 air is crisp And I would not now it is not pro motion. It is noticeable lighter than my wife’s new setup as well.
I probably posted to the wrong comment lol
If you watch the reviews, this new M2 Air screen is really good, It is good enough where I do not notice much of a difference, the only thing I have noticed on the down side is the speaker quality is not as good.
This is a comparison between M1 iPP and M2 iPad Air
Screen is a wash
Speakers is a minus
Battery life is a plus
Weight is a plus
Cost is a plus
I am sure the New M4 screen is superior
If you watch the reviews, this new M2 Air screen is really good, It is good enough where I do not notice much of a difference, the only thing I have noticed on the down side is the speaker quality is not as good.
This is a comparison between M1 iPP and M2 iPad Air
Screen is a wash
Speakers is a minus
Battery life is a plus
Weight is a plus
Cost is a plus
I am sure the New M4 screen is superior
Last edited:
I use the speakers on my M1 iPad Pro every day and them being a downgrade is the primary reason why I won't entertain the M4 generation as an option. They're very important to me, and on par with the MBA 15" and MBP 14" speakers, I have directly compared them and work in audio with professional tooling. The iPad Pro is a great device to check mixes on and it's very serviceable for casual music and things like gear demos.
It's absurd Apple lowered the quality just to get the device slightly thinner, especially as it is a media consumption device. I strongly recommend everyone who purchased one and isn't happy with this directly email Apple so that they get "customer satisfaction" feedback that Tim Cook is obsessed with, if a few hundred people do it it might actually make a dent in their decision making because not that many people will take the time.
For people having screen issues, make sure to turn off attention aware features as a test in case the newer FaceID scanner is causing you trouble, since it's now located on the top it might be hitting your eyes differently - I've had this issue on all newer iPhones with FaceID (but not the iPhone X) and also the M1 iPad (but not the 2018 one) and it goes away immediately once I disable that. I am very sensitive to it and only notice the issue as eye strain, but it's there with it on and not there with it off and OLED TVs etc. never bother me any and my vision is quite good. It's a long shot but it costs nothing to try out. I think some people are just more sensitive to being constantly hit with the IR dots. Normal occasional FaceID unlock is fine though.
Last edited:
I, personally, don't like iPads a whole lot.
That is, I love the hardware but hate iPadOS (without wanting it to be macOS. I just want Apple to iron out the myriads of nonsensical inconveniences and bugs).
But, however small or large of an upgrade one thinks the latest iPads Pro are, they most definitely and objectively are the best iPads Pro ever with the highest end specs.
Only minor downgrade is the camera array on the back.
Sure, these new displays might make a lot of us experience eyestrain or worse.
But I don't know why you'd call something "subpar" just because you can't use it.
I get that it's frustrating. But these displays are some of the best you can get in any mainstream laptop or tablet.
240hz PWM is simply way too low and people will experience problems with it.
240hz is just extremely bad.
The issue is not OLED, but the extremely low PWM that is on these displays. People who are sensitiveness to PWM flickering are best to avoid these displays.
It's why I ended up paying extra for the Apple Studio Display over cheaper models like the Dell UltraSharp or LG Ultrafine as those displays have PWM flickering, but the Apple Studio Display is free from PWM flickering.
For me, True Tone on gives me instant eye fatigue and headaches. I think this changes the white point or PWM or something.
Both iPhone and iPad with True Tone off are the only way I can consume on these devices. Just my personal preference.
Both iPhone and iPad with True Tone off are the only way I can consume on these devices. Just my personal preference.
What's laughable is paying all that money for a upgrade and getting worse speakers lol 2018- 2024
Indeed. Speakers are very important on an iPad as media consumption is a major use case.
what is your basis for any of this?
use an external LCD monitor when you can? Not all Macs have screens. I am sympathetic to your concerns, but it's just we have spent years on these forums enduring people putting Apple down for not going OLED, now we got people complaining because they did.
If the issue is as a large a percentage as you suggest, I suspect Apple will respond to the market and always have a non OLED screen available.
The only screen I ever had a bit of a problem with was on my iPhone 13 Pro. Went from the XR to the 13 Pro and for the first few days my eyes would be watery when starting to use the phone, but only slightly and for a short period of time (abour 10 minutes), then it would subside. After a few days of this, it went away completely, and I didn't have any issues on my iPhone 15 Pro.
The AW screen is OLED, my TV is OLED and my mom uses an OLED Samsung phone that I will sometimes troubleshoot for her and I never had any issues with any of these screens, just the 13 Pro. So I can definitely see how someone has an issue with an iPad OLED screen while at the same time they do not have an issue watching a big OLED TV or using some other OLED device.
The AW screen is OLED, my TV is OLED and my mom uses an OLED Samsung phone that I will sometimes troubleshoot for her and I never had any issues with any of these screens, just the 13 Pro. So I can definitely see how someone has an issue with an iPad OLED screen while at the same time they do not have an issue watching a big OLED TV or using some other OLED device.
What's laughable is paying all that money for a upgrade and getting worse speakers lol 2018- 2024
The new speakers actually produce a more natural soundstage with outstanding instrument separation. I wouldn't go back to anything pre-2024.
When Apple switches Macbooks to OLED, it will be a disaster because to some, having a computer is a must but an iPad is optional.
@erkansu
May be better for your eyes, not for mine.
I will sell my m1 iPad.
It is is still good, but the 2024 is better, especially for reading and Video outdoors.
And it feels so much smarter, I Like this much more.
The Sound isn’t so much different, a Little Bit more Natural with less hights and more midtones.
Fine for me, too, but a question of personal Taste.
May be better for your eyes, not for mine.
I will sell my m1 iPad.
It is is still good, but the 2024 is better, especially for reading and Video outdoors.
And it feels so much smarter, I Like this much more.
The Sound isn’t so much different, a Little Bit more Natural with less hights and more midtones.
Fine for me, too, but a question of personal Taste.
It's been said all over this board and on Reddit but I will list it again.
1) People getting migraines, headaches and sore eyes from the screen
2) All the dead pixels
3) Hot and cold color temp variation
4) Grain
5) Crappy speakers, worse than all previous gens
6) Easily bent
7) Runs too hot just from notepad
8) Not as sharp as previous gens
9) Topples over when attached to MKB
10) Some don't lay flat on the table
There's more but this is the ones that I remember right now.
microLED screens need to hurry up and get here and then we won't need to worry with PWM-plagued OLED screens.
Probably people with quasi-epileptic (or actual epileptic) conditions. I'm one of them though I haven't seen issues with PWM. I can see low refresh rate flicker that other people don't notice at all.
How would that work? What would account for a more natural soundstage from speakers placed the exact same distance apart on a nearly-identical physical chassis?
A collection of random negativity from someone with no experience in the matter.
I rest my case. No experience but copy and paste random opinions as facts.
There are, what, 8 billion people in the world? Even if just 1% of the entire population have issues with PWM, that’s still 80 million people.
Personally, I’m still using an iPhone SE3 and M1 iPad Pro. The iPhone is less of a problem than the iPad since I only use it for short bursts (camera, messages, Yelp, etc). The iPad, I use for marathon reading sessions so hoping for a flicker-free solution by the time I need to replace my M1 iPP.