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There are decent screens out there. I returned my first air because it was yellow on the left and pinkish white on the right. Luckily I received one with a decent screen but the fact that customers have to play this game is ridiculous. I returned 5 macbook pros last year because of screen and hardware issues. Every dog has its day its day and if apple doesn't shape up they will pay the price. Product loyalty only goes so far. Ask the american automobile industry about that.
 
Picked up a another air today as my current air has a very slight yellow tint on the left side. Opened it up at the store and the white seems ok but it had that faint black bar on the left side. They immediately replaced it with a second one. I got it home and it failed the image retention test (first air I've seen that failed) and had a speck of dust under the glass and still had a faint yellow tint on the left so I decided to keep the original for now . The people at the Apple store have been very friendly but I'm tired of trying to cherry pick a perfect screen. Sometimes I hate OCD. No mater how faint it is it can't be unseen.
 
I've just ordered my second Air from Tesco in the UK.

Will be able to collect it Friday afternoon, I'm not holding out much hope but we'll see as this is their second batch of 32GB Space Grey's
 
So to update you all on my trials and tribulations in getting a non defective iPad Air, I ended up ordering another one online at the Apple Store. Also a faint yellow tint on the left and a stuck pixel in the middle of the screen. Apple shipped a replacement that left straight from the factory in China. I received it and the screen is beautiful. First of many I've seen with no yellow tint. Uniformly white. I don't know if there was an issue with the initial batch or if this replacement is one of the few good units. But I'm now officially a happy camper.
Congrats :)
 
I got a replacement on 7th Nov that had yellowing. Rang on the 11th to request a replacement. Still waiting for the Apple Store to get one back in stock (white 128 cellular). It's now been 2 weeks. The yellowing has faded significantly in the meantime. I'll check out the new one when it arrives. Thankfully I was told by the Apple Dude to ignore my return date if I want to return it as "it's not my fault they don't have a replacement in stock"
 
So to update you all on my trials and tribulations in getting a non defective iPad Air, I ended up ordering another one online at the Apple Store. Also a faint yellow tint on the left and a stuck pixel in the middle of the screen. Apple shipped a replacement that left straight from the factory in China. I received it and the screen is beautiful. First of many I've seen with no yellow tint. Uniformly white. I don't know if there was an issue with the initial batch or if this replacement is one of the few good units. But I'm now officially a happy camper.
Congrats !
And there is even no book spine ?
Can please post your production week ?
 
From what I know as a result of observing display models in the Apple Store and reading online, the "bookspine" shadow on the left side of the screen (very pronounced or extremely slight and barely noticeable) is an inherent characteristic of the IGZO screen in the iPad Air.
 
From what I know as a result of observing display models in the Apple Store and reading online, the "bookspine" shadow on the left side of the screen (very pronounced or extremely slight and barely noticeable) is an inherent characteristic of the IGZO screen in the iPad Air.
Exactly my experience.
All airs I examined (I owned 4, saw about 10 in local stores) had this issue.
 
From what I know as a result of observing display models in the Apple Store and reading online, the "bookspine" shadow on the left side of the screen (very pronounced or extremely slight and barely noticeable) is an inherent characteristic of the IGZO screen in the iPad Air.

When you refer to the "bookspine", do you mean the shadow right on the left edge of the screen (about 5mm wide) or the shadow that's about an inch in from the left?
 
My Air has no bookspine at all but the color of the screen varies widely depending on the viewing angle, ranging from yellow to pink, sometimes blue. The left side is a bit yellower than the other side, it's hard not to be disturbed while reading on a white background, especialy in landscape mode.

I ordered another in a different online store to see if the screen is better. If not maybe I'll go back to the previous version (ipad 4) wich begins to miss ...

I saw several Air in 6 different stores (i saw several affected with bookspine O.O wow it's really nasty !!) and only one store had an Air with correct screen, it seems that it was a Samsung one.
 
When you refer to the "bookspine", do you mean the shadow right on the left edge of the screen (about 5mm wide) or the shadow that's about an inch in from the left?

I'm refering to the slight fuzzy shadow on the left of the screen, a small distance from the edge. The (2) types that you mention I believe might be variations of the same issue.
 
From what I know as a result of observing display models in the Apple Store and reading online, the "bookspine" shadow on the left side of the screen (very pronounced or extremely slight and barely noticeable) is an inherent characteristic of the IGZO screen in the iPad Air.

Why would it have anything to do with its IGZO? It's likely just the the side the backlights are on, or the side opposite.
 
Finally went to Apple Store (Bullring Shopping Centre, Birmingham, United Kingdom) to have my 5th iPad swapped - And refused by the manager because I had made too many swaps.

To recap:
Issues with the last iPad:

(Issue that affected me):
Bottom half had pink tint / Left half had yellow tint blending in with pink tint that was coming from the bottom->up

(Issues that I easily lived with):
Spots of dusts under the screen / Blue band on the left side / Pieces of ?silicon rubbers? that were sticking out along the edges where the metal frame meets the glass - which I managed to trimmed down neatly.

Issues with first four iPad air:
Combinations of dusts under screen / dust under screen that was refracting light (rainbow effect) / stuck pixels (bright pixels that apparent on black background) / yellow tint


Poor customer service today.

What I did accept:
Was the refusal to have another swap - I completely understood that this was not good for business

What I am objecting (short version):
Rude manager. She was called out by one of the minions and she immediately said “there is nothing wrong with it”. Questioned her how can she be sure about this when has not even looked at it, to which she replied “because my colleague said so”. And what was baffling, none of the first three minions had a look at it either. She finally gave in and had a look at it - and immediately said “I cannot see anything wrong with it” in spite of the obvious. Which she then offered a refund and asked to go back into the queue. Once arrived at the front of the queue, was denied refund - in spite of the manager offering it in the first place - so had to call her again. Finally got my refund. Humiliating experience to say the least but I did not expect an Apple Store manager to behave like this.

Thoughts
Apple is a great company that produces great product. Yes, I will be waiting slightly longer until these issues are ironed out. But it is a shame that the image can easily be tarnished by this one bad apple (yes, pun intended). But again, watching some of the salesboys and girls at this store behave, did make me wonder if they are slacking not just in product QC but also recruitment process.
 
Well at least there is hope from what I read. Some of us managed to grab flawless pads. I'm still waiting for my third replacement. I called a reseller from whom I had purchased my first pad and changed with another one and he sounded like Apple knows very well the problem.
Although I know no one can predict from the serial numbers, yet the DMPL series seems to be widely screwed. Those who got other serials with clean screen please post your serial. Especially those whore are waiting pads shipped directly from China. Might help if I end stepping in a Genius Bar.

The iPad Air drama will stand as the end of my honeymoon with Apple anyway.
 
Finally went to Apple Store (Bullring Shopping Centre, Birmingham, United Kingdom) to have my 5th iPad swapped - And refused by the manager because I had made too many swaps.

To recap:
Issues with the last iPad:

(Issue that affected me):
Bottom half had pink tint / Left half had yellow tint blending in with pink tint that was coming from the bottom->up

(Issues that I easily lived with):
Spots of dusts under the screen / Blue band on the left side / Pieces of ?silicon rubbers? that were sticking out along the edges where the metal frame meets the glass - which I managed to trimmed down neatly.

Issues with first four iPad air:
Combinations of dusts under screen / dust under screen that was refracting light (rainbow effect) / stuck pixels (bright pixels that apparent on black background) / yellow tint


Poor customer service today.

What I did accept:
Was the refusal to have another swap - I completely understood that this was not good for business

What I am objecting (short version):
Rude manager. She was called out by one of the minions and she immediately said “there is nothing wrong with it”. Questioned her how can she be sure about this when has not even looked at it, to which she replied “because my colleague said so”. And what was baffling, none of the first three minions had a look at it either. She finally gave in and had a look at it - and immediately said “I cannot see anything wrong with it” in spite of the obvious. Which she then offered a refund and asked to go back into the queue. Once arrived at the front of the queue, was denied refund - in spite of the manager offering it in the first place - so had to call her again. Finally got my refund. Humiliating experience to say the least but I did not expect an Apple Store manager to behave like this.

Thoughts
Apple is a great company that produces great product. Yes, I will be waiting slightly longer until these issues are ironed out. But it is a shame that the image can easily be tarnished by this one bad apple (yes, pun intended). But again, watching some of the salesboys and girls at this store behave, did make me wonder if they are slacking not just in product QC but also recruitment process.

in their defense apple retail does not pay as well as some believe they do. There was article here some time ago and only geniuses are paid more than what I consider to be minimum wage. In other words, these people are really no better than the people you used to find at circuit city or these days best buy/staples/walmart. The only difference is they ahve a blue shirt. You may get lucky and find a fellow enthusiast, but for most its just a job and during the holiday season, the stress makes it bad enough that you get the treatment described above.

----------

Well at least there is hope from what I read. Some of us managed to grab flawless pads. I'm still waiting for my third replacement. I called a reseller from whom I had purchased my first pad and changed with another one and he sounded like Apple knows very well the problem.
Although I know no one can predict from the serial numbers, yet the DMPL series seems to be widely screwed. Those who got other serials with clean screen please post your serial. Especially those whore are waiting pads shipped directly from China. Might help if I end stepping in a Genius Bar.

The iPad Air drama will stand as the end of my honeymoon with Apple anyway.

I returned the mini due to the gamut + yellowing on the bottom, and am about to exchange my second air (I tried the space gray this time). If the third from target is yellow (both were PL, i.e. LG) I will just return and wait for the next rev of the mini, though I anticipate similar shens during that release as well.
 
There's no correlation between serial numbers and panel manufacturers. To Apple, a correctly spec'd panel is a panel and they are used at random regardless of the factory, iPad color or capacity. I would imagine that the stock pile that all factories pull from have panels from all major suppliers and the assemblers do not know or care about which supplier's panel is making it into whatever random iPad they're assembling.
 
There's no correlation between serial numbers and panel manufacturers. To Apple, a correctly spec'd panel is a panel and they are used at random regardless of the factory, iPad color or capacity. I would imagine that the stock pile that all factories pull from have panels from all major suppliers and the assemblers do not know or care about which supplier's panel is making it into whatever random iPad they're assembling.

be that as it may, I'm not picking up anymore PL's for replacement.
 
Although I know no one can predict from the serial numbers, yet the DMPL series seems to be widely screwed.

Not true at all. I have a good iPad Air with serial DMPLL. The term “flawless” can’t be used in any mass produced product. There is always something not 100% ideally perfect — there can never be. As I mentioned before, I have a very very small amount of the “book spine” shadow, which is about .1% — if that. I saw this phenomenon far more pronounced on some of the display models in the Apple Store.
 
Not true at all. I have a good iPad Air with serial DMPLL. The term “flawless” can’t be used in any mass produced product. There is always something not 100% ideally perfect — there can never be. As I mentioned before, I have a very very small amount of the “book spine” shadow, which is about .1% — if that. I saw this phenomenon far more pronounced on some of the display models in the Apple Store.

I have a DMPL model ipad and I think the screen is fantastic! Colors are sharp and vibrant, no dead pixels, no light bleed...it's a bit "cooler" vs my warm/yellow iphone 5 and I prefer the cool tint. Whites appear better.
 
My screen is amazing, nothing to complain really. Having said that I notice that the viewing angle really affects colors. If one wants a perfect color distribution it need to have the ipad dead center
 
be that as it may, I'm not picking up anymore PL's for replacement.

UPDATE: Got a QLL and the screen is awesome. Looks like its the L that's the key, the samsung screens are clearly more consistent overall. There is a faint tint on the left, but million times better than the first two I had.
 
I dont have any significant tint issues

BUT

does anyone have a screen where it doesn't seem to look as "sharp" as you would expect from a Retina ??

I put my Iphone 5 next to my Ipad Air and the 5's screen looks noticeably sharper and clearer than my new unboxed Ipad Air

Anyone else experience something similar ??
 
I dont have any significant tint issues

BUT

does anyone have a screen where it doesn't seem to look as "sharp" as you would expect from a Retina ??

I put my Iphone 5 next to my Ipad Air and the 5's screen looks noticeably sharper and clearer than my new unboxed Ipad Air

Anyone else experience something similar ??

Pretty sure it has something to do with smaller and bigger screens.
 
Not true at all. I have a good iPad Air with serial DMPLL. The term “flawless” can’t be used in any mass produced product. There is always something not 100% ideally perfect — there can never be. As I mentioned before, I have a very very small amount of the “book spine” shadow, which is about .1% — if that. I saw this phenomenon far more pronounced on some of the display models in the Apple Store.

Agreed. I have one iPad Air 16gb with LTE and it doesn't seem to have any yellowing and has a even tint to it. Maybe its because i had a horrible experience swapping out many rMinis, but to me this screen is near perfection.

I also have one with the serial number DMPLL. Although i must say that i was also afraid that i might get a defective screen because of all the negative comments on the ones with the serial number DMPLL.
 
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