iPad Pro Lack of Screen Sharpness on 13 inch M4 iPad Pro

[Mity]

I bought the 13 inch M4 iPad Pro on Monday. It originally shipped with iPadOS 17 but it was updated to iPadOS 18 today.

From the very first time using it, I was a bit stunned at how there was significantly less detail on the screen than my 12.9 inch M2 iPad Pro. It was quite weird because the display models at the Apple Store looked fine. The lack of detail was present on Amazon Prime Video and YouTube. I can't post screenshots of copyrighted material from Amazon but here are some screenshots that I just took while watching YouTube.

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. 

Pictures 1 & 2 are the worst of the bunch is what a lot of content looks like even though I have the YouTube settings on 1080. There's also content on Amazon that looks that way, which is odd for this size screen. But other content looks okay, like in pictures 3, 4 & 5 (her face seems a bit blurred in 5, though).

The screenshots above are from Chrome for iPad. They appear the same on the YouTube app and I uninstalled that assuming a fault with the app itself. But, no. It was the same on Chrome.

I don't have my M2 iPad Pro with me as I gave it to a family member so I can't do side-to-side comparisons but I don't recall the picture looking this bad. Both iPads are 1TB models so the same RAM.

I know there have been issues with grainy displays but I don't see grain on my display (or perhaps I'm not looking close enough like those folks), just a lack of overall sharpness and clarity on the OLED panel compared to what I remember on my mini LED iPad.

Has anyone else experienced this as well?

 

[sparksd]

Others have said the same but frankly I don't see it between my M1 12.9 & M4 13".

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...as-sharp-the-12-9-m2-mini-led-screen.2438265/

 

[Mity]

Others have said the same but frankly I don't see it between my M1 12.9 & M4 13".

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...as-sharp-the-12-9-m2-mini-led-screen.2438265/

Interesting. I'm not noticing it much on text like that person stated. I see it mainly on faces and skin tones - the first 2 pics are representative of what I'm seeing on a lot of different types of content. Some faces look like they've been water colored or the footage shot with a phone. Just weird.

 

[sparksd]

Interesting. I'm not noticing it much on text like that person stated. I see it mainly on faces and skin tones - the first 2 pics are representative of what I'm seeing on a lot of different types of content. Some faces look like they've been water colored or the footage shot with a phone. Just weird.

I look at the same images and videos on my two devices and don't see any degradation on the M4 13".

 

[art6969]

I think the difference in sharpness between the 11-inch and 13-inch M4 iPad Pros might be due to the different display panel manufacturers. The 11-inch iPad Pro uses a Samsung display, while the 13-inch iPad Pro uses an LG display.

 

[firoze]

I think the difference in sharpness between the 11-inch and 13-inch M4 iPad Pros might be due to the different display panel manufacturers. The 11-inch iPad Pro uses a Samsung display, while the 13-inch iPad Pro uses an LG display.

What I’ve read is that not all 13” M4 panels are made by Samsung. Some are also made by LG.