iPad Pro Grainy display on new iPad Pro M4?

[Gelam]

I have returned an M4 iPad 13".

Will wait a few months hoping they can minimize the issue to imperceptible range if it's a manufacturing variance and not a design problem.

If its a design problem we will likely not get it resolved until the M5 iPad Pro since Apple does not usually do a mid cycle design modification, case on point the butterfly keyboard were design defects and they get modified only when new models come out. The lowest travel butterfly keyboards on the 2015 and 2016 12" MacBooks, the slightly higher travels butterfly keyboards on the 2017 12"MacBooks (much more durable but still not immune to failures), the updated silicone membrane on the 2018/2019 MBP models (not sure which year it was), and the final ditching of the butterflies on the 2019 MBP 16".

Link to my photos of the iPad in question - > https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ys-but-it-may-not-be-a-defect.2426655/page-10
Post #226

There are plenty of posts about the Samsung S24 grainy display debacle, even on a high PPI display they can still be as visible as the iPad's low PPI panels. People said it's the new Samsung OLED manufacturing technique or design, whatever thats causing this issue since the S23 did not have that. https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS24Ultra/comments/1aq1795 I have heard theories from anti reflective coating under the glass to the new technique of lowering brightness by using less PWM and more of a voltage DC dimming to achieve higher energy efficiency at the cost of pixel voltage precision. And last I checked the latest reddit posts about the S24 complains the new June batches still have grainy display.

For sure Samsung panels are to be blamed but LG panels could also be exhibiting this issue if they have the same design (ie more voltage dimming instead of PWM). And that some reported that Samsung also manufactures the 13" models in small numbers (not LG exclusive). So I am not sure.


Thanks for reading the long post.

 

[gusping]

Just to add another data point. No graining on my 13in m4 iPP, but the OLED PWM is causing me eye strain and headaches so it will be going back.

 

[Gelam]

Just to add another data point. No graining on my 13in m4 iPP, but the OLED PWM is causing me eye strain and headaches so it will be going back.

Can you send your grainless iPP to me instead? I will pay you.

Are you sure there is absolutely no grain from all the observation methods in this thread?

 

[Zest28]

Unfortunately all OLEDS struggle with grays, blurry text, and black crushing. You trade off some of LCD’s shortcomings for OLEDS.

Not true at all. The display on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are excellent.

 

[Gelam]

Not true at all. The display on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are excellent.

I agree that those look excellent. My OLED iPhone X and iPhone 12 Mini looks excellent.
The recent Samsung S24 grainy display proves even phones could have poor OLED if implemented improperly. I hope the iPad's case is the same story and can be fixed.

 

[fel10]

Im thinking about upgrading my m1 to the m4, but this thread is seriously making me consider keeping my m1 for now.

 

[cmbarclay]

Im thinking about upgrading my m1 to the m4, but this thread is seriously making me consider keeping my m1 for now.

Go to the Apple Store and check them out. I was there on Sunday, I looked at all the iPad Pro’s… I didn’t see any grainy displays.

 

[EugW]

Go to the Apple Store and check them out. I was there on Sunday, I looked at all the iPad Pro’s… I didn’t see any grainy displays.

You likely won't see it in the Apple Store. It's too bright in there. When you see it is when there is low ambient light and you have to turn the brightness way down on the iPad.

I see it, but only from really, really close. At my normal seating distance, I don't notice it.

BTW, if the ambient light in the room is high, I find that much of the advantage of OLED is lost, vs. LCD.

 

[jonnyb098]

B

Go to the Apple Store and check them out. I was there on Sunday, I looked at all the iPad Pro’s… I didn’t see any grainy displays.

Because you won’t see it until it’s under 50% brightness. It’s very hard to see it in bright conditions

 

[cmbarclay]

B

Because you won’t see it until it’s under 50% brightness. It’s very hard to see it in bright conditions

I have a iPad Pro 13" and even in a dark room dimmed below 50% I don't see it. If I use my iPhone and zoom in I can see it. I hope for those having that problem it gets resolved for them

 

[Gelam]

Go to the Apple Store and check them out. I was there on Sunday, I looked at all the iPad Pro’s… I didn’t see any grainy displays.

Its a lot harder to spot them in bright ambient light conditions. I already know what they are like since inspecting the M4 I received at home in low ambient light (romantic bedroom light), so I spot them in all the iPads in the Apple store.

In the bright Apple store I had to look hard to see them though, but they are there on all the units I inspected (3 units).

 

[Gelam]

I have a iPad Pro 13" and even in a dark room dimmed below 50% I don't see it. If I use my iPhone and zoom in I can see it. I hope for those having that problem it gets resolved for them

Is your iPad display not identical to some of photos of iPads with grain in this thread?

Thanks for the hope, we need it T_T. I buy iPad for illustration and when there is this constant grain texture I cannot tell if its from the file or the display.

 

[Gelam]

You likely won't see it in the Apple Store. It's too bright in there. When you see it is when there is low ambient light and you have to turn the brightness way down on the iPad.

I see it, but only from really, really close. At my normal seating distance, I don't notice it.

BTW, if the ambient light in the room is high, I find that much of the advantage of OLED is lost, vs. LCD.

True, under bright light LCD and OLED feels identical. Are you okay with them grains?

I remembered us debating about the 12" 2017 MacBook and its HEVC file playback capabilities. You stating its the purchase of the decade. I really think this M4 iPad Pro is also the purchase of the decade as well if not for the grainy display. Its got the AV1 decoder and the energy efficiency has increased despite it being thinner, its got better battery life than the M1,M2 generations.

 

[cmbarclay]

Is your iPad display not identical to some of photos of iPads with grain in this thread?

Thanks for the hope, we need it T_T. I buy iPad for illustration and when there is this constant grain texture I cannot tell if its from the file or the display.

Honestly, I am in a dark room now and at normal viewing distance I don’t see. Buy one try it out and if you see it and it’s a problem return it. Just for reference I had the last generation and I didn’t really notice the blooming but if I stared at the screen closeup I could see it. I love this iPad Pro 13”. Good luck!

 

[EugW]

True, under bright light LCD and OLED feels identical. Are you okay with them grains?

I remembered us debating about the 12" 2017 MacBook and its HEVC file playback capabilities. You stating its the purchase of the decade. I really think this M4 iPad Pro is also the purchase of the decade as well if not for the grainy display. Its got the AV1 decoder and the energy efficiency has increased despite it being thinner, its got better battery life than the M1,M2 generations.

Good times.

I'm indeed OK with them grains, because I don't see them unless I'm like 8 inches away or something like that. In real world usage, I don't notice it.

Since you mention the 2017 MacBook... I had to give a presentation over Zoom a few days ago, and I was all ready to give it with my 11" iPad Pro M4. PowerPoint for iPad works well with an external screen, or so I thought, with the presenter notes / next slide on the iPad and the actual presentation on the second screen. Plus that M4 is super fast.

However, I discovered that for PowerPoint for iPad, there is no pointer available on the external screen, and Zoom crashes if you try to use it with dual screens. Plus Zoom seems to want to display only the iPad screen. Arggh. So, I got out my much slower 2017 MacBook and presented from that instead. PowerPoint works well, with pointer support on the second screen, and Zoom works perfectly with two screens too, in macOS Ventura. It's noticeably slower on that 2017 Core m3 MacBook though, despite the fact I have 16 GB RAM.

BTW, I also tried my M1 Mac mini to present. That mostly worked, but I'm using PowerPoint 2016 on that Mac mini. I don't have a licence for the latest version of PowerPoint unfortunately. With that old PowerPoint presentation in PowerPoint 2016 on Apple Silicon in macOS Sonoma, I sometimes get presentation glitches, even though PowerPoint 2016 works perfectly on my Intel machines in macOS Ventura. However, Keynote works perfectly.

And yeah, one of the reasons besides OLED that I got the 2024 iPad Pro M4 was to get hardware AV1 support.

 

[Gelam]

Honestly, I am in a dark room now and at normal viewing distance I don’t see. Buy one try it out and if you see it and it’s a problem return it. Just for reference I had the last generation and I didn’t really notice the blooming but if I stared at the screen closeup I could see it. I love this iPad Pro 13”. Good luck!

I already returned one. I don't notice it at normal viewing distance, however, I tend to look closer when drawing and I see them clearly when doing so hahaha. I am glad you love yours, and I hope that Apple/Samsung/LG will improve the graininess a few months down the line when I repurchase to try again!

 

[Gelam]

Good times.

I'm indeed OK with them grains, because I don't see them unless I'm like 8 inches away or something like that. In real world usage, I don't notice it.

Since you mention the 2017 MacBook... I had to give a presentation over Zoom a few days ago, and I was all ready to give it with my 11" iPad Pro M4. PowerPoint for iPad works well with an external screen, or so I thought, with the presenter notes / next slide on the iPad and the actual presentation on the second screen. Plus that M4 is super fast.

However, I discovered that for PowerPoint for iPad, there is no pointer available on the external screen, and Zoom crashes if you try to use it with dual screens. Plus Zoom seems to want to display only the iPad screen. Arggh. So, I got out my much slower 2017 MacBook and presented from that instead. PowerPoint works well, with pointer support on the second screen, and Zoom works perfectly with two screens too, in macOS Ventura. It's noticeably slower on that 2017 Core m3 MacBook though, despite the fact I have 16 GB RAM.

BTW, I also tried my M1 Mac mini to present. That mostly worked, but I'm using PowerPoint 2016 on that Mac mini. I don't have a licence for the latest version of PowerPoint unfortunately. With that old PowerPoint presentation in PowerPoint 2016 on Apple Silicon in macOS Sonoma, I sometimes get presentation glitches, even though PowerPoint 2016 works perfectly on my Intel machines in macOS Ventura. However, Keynote works perfectly.

And yeah, one of the reasons besides OLED that I got the 2024 iPad Pro M4 was to get hardware AV1 support.

Good times indeed. I agree at 8 inches its hardly visible, however I stare closer when drawing and its super visible T_T.

Sounds like iPadOS being iPadOS, multi tasking is still more capable and parallel on MacOS. I feel you though, the iPad would be so much better for powerpoint/zoom if they allow it!

Dang, 2016 PowerPoint is probably not optimized for Apple Silicon. How slow is the 2017 Kabylake M3?

Yes! Indeed the AV1 should show its efficiency in the next 10 years once streaming services use them more. The M2 might show its age sooner on that front. You make me want the iPad Pro M4 to work out even more! Apple god please fix the grainy issue asap!

 

[WilliamG]

You likely won't see it in the Apple Store. It's too bright in there. When you see it is when there is low ambient light and you have to turn the brightness way down on the iPad.

I see it, but only from really, really close. At my normal seating distance, I don't notice it.

BTW, if the ambient light in the room is high, I find that much of the advantage of OLED is lost, vs. LCD.

Well, until you scroll down a web page etc and the smearing LCD response times raise their ugly head.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have had my 13” M4 since 6/24 and haven’t seen any grainy texts, blocking, or pictures with normal use (eg. no magnifying glass or electron microscope examination).

 

[richard371]

Funny how I started this thread because I thought I saw it in the store. When I got my 11 and later 13 home I saw no graininess. At time when I thought I saw it I compared the same image on my MBP and 5 year old iPad and they were identical.

 

[fel10]

Funny how I started this thread because I thought I saw it in the store. When I got my 11 and later 13 home I saw no graininess. At time when I thought I saw it I compared the same image on my MBP and 5 year old iPad and they were identical.

You created a monster 😂

 

[nepalisherpa]

Not true at all. The display on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Apple Watch Ultra 2 are excellent.

15 Pro Max has a 460ppi screen. iPad Pro has a 264ppi screen. "Grains" are there on iPhones too. They are just too small/fine to notice. Plus, "grains" are only an issue if you use your iPad under a microscope.

 

[Gelam]

Funny how I started this thread because I thought I saw it in the store. When I got my 11 and later 13 home I saw no graininess. At time when I thought I saw it I compared the same image on my MBP and 5 year old iPad and they were identical.

Maybe you got the grain free unit. I can see them at 8 inches.

 

[Gelam]

15 Pro Max has a 460ppi screen. iPad Pro has a 264ppi screen. "Grains" are there on iPhones too. They are just too small/fine to notice. Plus, "grains" are only an issue if you use your iPad under a microscope.

There is this Samsung S24 Ultra debacle, a number of units (not sure if all) have grainy screens. So even on phones with high PPI the grain is easily noticeable than other phones (iPhone, S23, etc). This leads me to believe that PPI might not be the sole reason for grainy screens.

But I gotta say, no matter how hard I look I cannot see the grains on any of the iPhones. But that might be my eyesight and I might need a magnifying glass.

 

[thadoggfather]

People with grainy displays who really annoyed are you going back to an older led / mini led model?