iPad Pro iPP 12.9 2021 (M1) - blurry display

[Neodym]

Hi everyone,

I purchased a new 2021 M1 iPP 12.9. I can compare directly to a 2020 iPP 12.9.

Everything seems indeed a bit more instantaneous on the M1 (like e.g. immediate rendering of webpages to the very last icon), loading times for very complex apps are a few seconds shorter and the blacks are deeper and therefore the colors have more "pop".

However, I am irritated by the fact that the newer iPP with its Mini-LED display seems to be actually somewhat blurry when compared to the 2020 one.

This is especially visible with (but not limited to) text in videos (tried live TV via Netstream app and various YouTube videos). My wife claims to notice a yellowish tint all over the picture as well (e.g. when looking at snow). I seem to remember that those yellow tints have been a topic in the past for various Apple displays and people have said that it would be relicts from the production process, which would go away after time.

However I can not explain to myself the reasons for the display being blurrier. It has exact the same resolution as the 2020 one, the M1 is now out for a couple of iPadOS revisions, so possible driver problems should be fixed by now and everyone claims Mini-LED to make for a superior display.

I could not find a related discussion regarding blurriness here on the forums. One thread discusses blooming issues (and some people claim that apps would need "M1 optimization", for whatever reason), but the 2021 iPP 12.9 seems to not exactly be overly known for blurry displays.

I have attached two pictures for comparing the iPads, marking the areas where the problem was striking to my eyes (pay special attention to the number plate on the car and the ship's name). For good measure I also made a comparison that demonstrates the blooming effect (here visible in two stages).

So I'm wondering if I

1. got a defective unit or
2. have to wait for some kind of "burn-in" to make the display issues go away (I find that unlikely) or
3. have to accept it as inevitable side-effect of the new Mini-LED technology

I feel the display to be one of the central elements of an iPad and I am not willing to accept blurriness on a 2021 iPad, which isn't exactly a bargain and is not clearly superior to its predecessor in the majority of aspects. But before I return the device, I wanted to ask the forum's swarm intelligence for opinions.

 

[Slartibart]

the yellowish tint might has to do wether Night Shift and/or True Tone are activated - you can check by pulling down the brightness control from the upper right corner and maximize it by tap and hold a finger on the bar.

Regarding the sharpness of text rendering: is there a difference for e.g. subtitles or text in PDFs or Pages documents? Or how does it look if you watch your example movie in a different app like the ZDF Mediathek?

 

[Neodym]

Thanks for your feedback! As you suggested, I will give it a try and compare text in documents and videos with another app next to Netstream and YouTube. However, I’m using both of the latter quite regularly and thus could not accept poor quality there.

Regarding the yellowish tint: Why would night mode have such an effect on the 2021, but not the 2020 iPad (identical settings)?

 

[Slartibart]

Thanks for your feedback! As you suggested, I will give it a try and compare text in documents and videos with another app next to Netstream and YouTube. However, I’m using both of the latter quite regularly and thus could not accept poor quality there.

IMHO differences in the video playback are probably app-related. I did a - admittingly - quick check on my 12.9“ M1 iPP vs. my 2020 11“ iPP and PDFs as well as text in Pages, Keynote, etc. is rendered equally sharp. In general I find the 12.9“ M1 better.

I would suggest that you do a test not with a streamed but a local video which you replay on both devices.

Regarding the yellowish tint: Why would night mode have such an effect on the 2021, but not the 2020 iPad (identical settings)?

My bad, my suggestion was more general for the case one finds a yellowish color tint.

 

[James Godfrey]

I have found with all Apple devices I have owned in the past the screen can either have a cold blueish tint or a warm yellow/orange tint, I have always preferred the cooler tint personally, but yet more often than not I always seem to end up with a warmer tint screen.

Which you get is completely random as far as I am aware and from researching it in the past it’s all on what company has manufactured the specific panel which will determine which you get.

There isn’t really a lot you can do about it I don’t think.

I would say however, if you have bought directly from Apple and your within 14 days I would perhaps see if you can return it, but be aware it’s a coin flip which tone you would get.

As for the blurry images I am not sure what to suggest on that front.

 

[Neuronum]

It's called screen sharpness. This is a post-process of picture signal. Higher sharpness value results in sharper image edges. This parameter can be tuned on many monitors, but not tunable on mobile phones and tablets.
However, it doesn't mean the higher the sharpness value is, the better the screen will be. The screen sharpness should correspond to the sharpness of images, which ensures visual consistency across devices and prints.
I have been using an iPad Pro 2018 for nearly 6 years. And I notice the change of screen sharpness on different iPadOS versions. iPadOS 13, 14 and 17 have abnormally high screen sharpness values, while 16.3.1 has a decent one.
iPadOS 16.3.1 looks blurrer than 13, 14 and 17 since it has a lower sharpness value, and this makes me feel very comfortable. Abnormally high shaprness can be a cause of feeling nausea, dizzy and eye strain.
Your problem may be solved after updating to iPadOS 16.5 or later. After 16.5, iPad's abnormally high sharpness comes back.

 

[klasma]

You should take screenshots on-device and compare them (zoomed) on a third display/computer. If they are the same, this will mean that there’s an issue with the panel (display hardware). Otherwise there’s some software difference.

Panels differ in quality, even between units of the same iPad model. Return or exchange it if you’re not satisfied.