Apple Launches Repair Program for Blank Screen Issue Affecting Third-Generation iPad Air

[V_Man]

NO. The affected iPads were, indeed, manufactured during that time period. ALONG WITH A BUNCH OF IPADS THAT WERE NOT AFFECTED. They can simply narrow the defect down to having occurred during that timeframe. That doesn't mean every iPad Air they made during that time is broken.

They likely got a batch of parts from some supplier, where one of the expected QA tests wasn't being done. Many of the untested parts would have passed that test, but some would have failed. If everything had been working properly, the parts that would have failed that test would have gotten rejected and not put into iPads in the first place. Instead, some iPads made it out the door with the defective part (along with a bunch with perfectly fine parts). They know the range of dates when the supply of improperly tested parts were used, so they know ones outside that range are not affected, but they don't know which of the ones in that range are affected. So, they say, "any iPad (manufactured in this date range and) experiencing this issue will be repaired free of charge".

They told you that a small percentage of devices were broken, and they narrowed it down by telling you that devices outside of a certain date range cannot be affected by this. That does NOT mean that all devices manufactured in that timeframe are broken, just that the devices that are broken were made during that timeframe. It really is just simple logic.

So you work for Apple? Otherwise you are offering your opinion. You have no idea how many are affected. It could be 100s or 100000’s.

I’m going by what was posted and said by Apple.

 

[reggavegga]

Here is what’s happening to my wife’s Air pad3 .. my nephew who works for Apple said they should just replace it. Not even3 months old yet.

 

[Seanm87]

Apple says that affected devices were manufactured between March 2019 and October 2019, and that any iPad experiencing this issue will be repaired by Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider free of charge.

so any iPad manufactured between this 8 month period is affected.

Jesus man engage brain. It just means the ones affected were made in that period not ALL of them.

 

[CarlJ]

So you work for Apple? Otherwise you are offering your opinion. You have no idea how many are affected. It could be 100s or 100000’s.

I’m going by what was posted and said by Apple.

No, you're not. You're making your own interpretation of what they said.

It's funny that you're calling my words an opinion, and pretending like what you're presenting is some anointed fact, rather than your opinion.

 

[V_Man]

No, you're not. You're making your own interpretation of what they said.

It's funny that you're calling my words an opinion, and pretending like what you're presenting is some anointed fact, rather than your opinion.

I know I’m being silly but apples statement clearly says the affected devices were manufactured over 8 months. I would hope Apple knows how many decides are affected. They will never say what it is. But since there is a repair program must be a significant amount.

 

[CarlJ]

I know I’m being silly but apples statement clearly says the affected devices were manufactured over 8 months. I would hope Apple knows how many decides are affected. They will never say what it is. But since there is a repair program must be a significant amount.

Again, imagine a scenario where the factory (or one of the factories) making some small part related to the display, had a failure in some automated QA testing hardware, such that one of the tests was reporting success all the time, rather than reporting proper pass/fail status (or, more cynically, said subcontractor neglected to test because they were in a hurry, or trying to cut corners). Now, most of the parts they’re making are fine, but some small percentage that should have been rejected, instead got sent to Apple and went into iPads. Apple has identified which manufacturer was sending that part and when, and thus knows pretty closely what iPads those parts went into - but they don’t know which parts would have been rejected and which ones would have passed the test and are just fine. So, they set up a repair program, and they say, “if your device was made in this timeframe and has this failure, then we’ll cheerfully fix it”.

In this situation they would know that the iPads would have to be amongst those assembled with parts that weren’t sufficiently tested, but they can have only (well educated) guesses as to how many of those will actually fail, and no clue which exact units those will be.

I have a suspicion the announcement of this program was more for theIr own stores to take note of, rather than the public - those iPads should still be under warranty anyway, in which case the consumer doesn’t really know it’s a special thing when they take their broken iPad (with this problem) in to the Genius Bar. If this were an article about a repair program for a 3 year old model (that’s now out of the normal warranty), it’d be a bigger deal.

 

[1Peace]

White spot is usually from a pressure point. Do you use a case? Or, perhaps from a bend.

White spot in iPad Pro 10,5 is due to bad design and it occurs without any mistake from the user.

I have this issue too despite treated it perfectly.

Off course this issue drives me crazy and stopping me from using it more frequently.

I’m pretty pissed on Apple that they didn’t created repair program for it despite knowing that it’s their fault.

 

[chucker23n1]

Apple says that affected devices were manufactured between March 2019 and October 2019, and that any iPad experiencing this issue will be repaired by Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider free of charge.

so any iPad manufactured between this 8 month period is affected.

No.

All affected iPads were manufactured in that period. It doesn't follow, vice versa, that all iPads manufactured in that period were affected.

All cats are carnivores. But not all carnivores are cats.

 

[Sopo87]

Guys I have an iPad (2019) bought last september, so it was made within the timeframe when the screen problem was there. So far, my iPad works great. Do you think I should pop by an Apple store and they will swap it for another one anyway? Or this program is only for affected iPads?

 

[cmaier]

Guys I have an iPad (2019) bought last september, so it was made within the timeframe when the screen problem was there. So far, my iPad works great. Do you think I should pop by an Apple store and they will swap it for another one anyway? Or this program is only for affected iPads?

Only affected ones.

 

[mi7chy]

Guys I have an iPad (2019) bought last september, so it was made within the timeframe when the screen problem was there. So far, my iPad works great. Do you think I should pop by an Apple store and they will swap it for another one anyway? Or this program is only for affected iPads?

If you don't experience the issue why risk swapping for a refurb that might have imperfections or scratched up from repair?

 

[entropys]

White spot in iPad Pro 10,5 is due to bad design and it occurs without any mistake from the user.

I have this issue too despite treated it perfectly.

Off course this issue drives me crazy and stopping me from using it more frequently.

I’m pretty pissed on Apple that they didn’t created repair program for it despite knowing that it’s their fault.

It is a commonish problem. A stage light effect about 3-4 inches above the home button. It can happen in other areas too but that is the most common. I suspect it some substrate separation behind the lcd. Maybe caused by pressure from internals, just don’t know as Apple of course won’t say. A lot of people report about that particular spot though.

 

[reggavegga]

I took my wife's Air 3 to Apple this morning about 10:30 or so I was in and out in about 10 minutes with a new replacement ...it was a great time to go there not busy at all that early in the morning.