I recently bought a new second-gen iPad mini. I have noticed the display is extremely dim. I held it up next to my iPhone 6 and saw that my eyes were not deceiving me - the mini is quite a bit dimmer. It's also impossible to use outdoors, even in shade. Is this normal? Is the mini 3 brighter? I love my iPad but this is its biggest drawback for me.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad mini 2 - dim display?
- Thread starter unobtainium
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
No, it is not normal.
I use mine outdoors in direct sunlight every day while walking to my car after work to check for accidents or hold ups on my way home. It is dim in sunlight, but certainly useable.
Mine is very useable in shade. Yours is defective or you have the brightness on manual and turned way down....
Ehh. It's slightly noticeable between my iPhone 6 and mini 2. It seems like there's a gray tint over the whole display of the mini 2 compared to the iPhone 6, making it a bit less bright and a bit less saturated/contrasty. Difference isn't anything major though where brightness is concerned. I'd complain a lot more about the colors if anything.
Mine might be defective then, because it's much more than a slight difference. Although I guess that's a subjective judgement. I'll take it to Apple and see what they say. I do have AppleCare+.
Actually, I reevaluated my devices and I can definitely see what you're talking about. I looked at the screens earlier at max brightness in a pretty brightly lit room and saw a slight difference but hardly anything at all. However this time I had both screens cranked all the way up in a very dark room and the difference is much more pronounced. Is this more similar to your experience?
Oh and sorry about the pretty poor photo quality. I had to take the picture with my old iPod touch 5th generation. I'm sure this still works well enough in showing you the difference though.
Attachments
Yes, thank you! That's very similar to what I see. I guess it's normal then.
It's not an issue indoors of course, but I find the iPhone 6 much easier to use outside. I was sitting in the shade in my yard the other evening, trying to read on the iPad, but it was difficult to see, whereas the iPhone poses no problem in the shade.