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iPad Air iPad Air 2020 Display is TRASH.

joshwithachance

joshwithachance

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 11, 2009
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I don’t know exactly what it is about it but the screen of the iPad Air 4 reminds me of those old school TFT displays with poor contrast and viewing angles. There’s also pretty noticeable backlight bleed, but not as bad as I’ve seen from others.

Apple tried to claim that other than max brightness and the refresh rate the display is the same as the Pro series, but that is a complete lie.

How do you guys feel about the Air 4 display?
 
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Calling it "trash" is a little strong, but I do agree that there are more differences between the two screens than Apple lets on. They aren't major differences so 99% of the people out there wouldn't notice, but the Air screen is definitely slightly inferior.
 
joshwithachance said:
I don’t know exactly what it is about it but the screen of the iPad Air 4 reminds me of those old school TFT displays with poor contrast and viewing angles. There’s also pretty noticeable backlight bleed, but not as bad as I’ve seen from others.

Apple tried to claim that other than max brightness and the refresh rate the display is the same as the Pro series, but that is a complete lie.

How do you guys feel about the Air 4 display?
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I’m seeing a lot of people experiencing the light bleed both here and in Facebook groups on the Air 4, seems the QC for the Air 4 is not at all good.
 
I have the iPad Air 2, iPad Pro 10.5 and the new iPad Air 4 and the screen is just as great as on my iPad Pro but I am also one of those people that do not even notice ProMotion so I am not as "nitpicky about those things looking for every tiny "issue" that you can only really reproduce by following how to steps on macrumors. :D
 
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Had same issue coming out of a 2017 10.5 Pro.. New Ipad air was dull and nothing like the Screen on the Pro.. Returned the air 24 hours later.. Plus all the Light Bleed issues... Ill pick up the 11 Pro and move on when I need too!
 
FHoff said:
Send it back. Get refund. Problem solved.
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That’s the plan. Pretty bummed about it because I really like everything else about the tablet. But the screen is the most important factor so I’ll have to go Pro or just get the M1 Air.
 
Tsepz said:
I’m seeing a lot of people experiencing the light bleed both here and in Facebook groups on the Air 4, seems the QC for the Air 4 is not at all good.
Click to expand...
Seems like it. I noticed on Reddit too but there the reactions seem a lot more muted.
 
joshwithachance said:
That’s the plan. Pretty bummed about it because I really like everything else about the tablet. But the screen is the most important factor so I’ll have to go Pro or just get the M1 Air.
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Good luck. Hope things work out for you. Likely, you will enjoy the 11” Pro.

On another note, I hope this is not way Apple is trying to differentiate between the new Air and the Pro. /s
 
I have the Air 3 and to me the display is excellent without any anomalies or issues. I wonder how it could be any different from the Air 4, and hard to believe the newer generation has gotten worse.
 
The site, notebookcheck.net, has reviewed the iPad Air 2020 and they have compared its display against the Air 2019 and Pro 11 2020 as well as other tablets.

www.notebookcheck.net

Apple iPad Air 4 (2020) Review - The Air Tablet moves closer to the Pro model

We are testing the Apple iPad Air 4, which has a 10.9-inch display and is powered by the Apple A14 Bionic and also has 4 GB RAM, two speakers and it is ideal for both work and leisure
www.notebookcheck.net www.notebookcheck.net

It seems the brightness, contrast, black level and colour accuracy of the Air 2020 are all slightly worse than the Pro 11 2020, but are very similar to the Air 2019 apart from colour accuracy where the 2020 model is better. I would expect this given the price point of the Air relative to the Pro. The viewing angle stability of the Air 2019, however, seems to be better than the Air 2020.

I recently bought the Air 2020 and, in my opinion, the viewing angles are not as bad as shown in the picture in the review, and importantly there isn't much colour shift. Overall, I'm very pleased with the display and, as far as I can tell, I have no light bleed on my unit.
 
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I got an Air4 last week (which now is returned). As I wrote in the light bleed thread, I believe that the current Air4 displays are rather low quality. My one unit had dead pixels, light bleed and image retention. It’s pretty obvious that’s is not the best display quality. Reminds me of the Mini2 days. That display was also trash.

I’m not sure if the quality will improve over time, or if it’s the new “Apple Standard”. I sure as heck won’t pay a premium for a budget display.
 
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jamo7663 said:
I recently bought the Air 2020 and, in my opinion, the viewing angles are not as bad as shown in the picture in the review, and importantly there isn't much colour shift.
Click to expand...
I'm glad to hear that. There seemed to be a real discrepancy between what NotebookCheck said (that viewing angles were good) and the picture they included (where they appeared to be quite poor).
 
I agree with @jamo7663, I just got an iPad Air 4 and am very happy with the display. I obviously don't have an iPad Pro to compare next to it, but so far no issues. My wife does have a 6th gen iPad and this one looks better.
Clearly if you are looking for issues you will always find them somewhere...
 
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