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 Pro iPad Pro Blooming discussion [merged]
- Thread starter someone33
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
OK, but don't really care. Video content is superb.
Traverse
macrumors 604
Personally, after using my 2021 iPad Pro since launch, I'm overall disappointed in this incarnation of the "Liquid Retina XDR display." Watching any HDR content (whether videos or photos) is phenomenal and way beyond any other iPad. General usage in light mode is no different. General usage in dark mode is a bitter disappointment.
While it isn't nearly as bad as many of the pictures on here make it out to be, it is very noticeable. Every control in the notes app has a haze, off-axis viewing is cloudy, and when using a mouse there is a massive square of hazy light around this tiny mouse pointer. There must be a reason for it or Apple would have tweaked the algorithms, but I don't notice this issue really at all with my MacBook Pro.
I know this isolated bloom is better than full-screen bloom of traditional LEDs (I suppose), but I find the overall experience a large compromise and don't plan to buy another iPad until they move onto a different display tech.
While it isn't nearly as bad as many of the pictures on here make it out to be, it is very noticeable. Every control in the notes app has a haze, off-axis viewing is cloudy, and when using a mouse there is a massive square of hazy light around this tiny mouse pointer. There must be a reason for it or Apple would have tweaked the algorithms, but I don't notice this issue really at all with my MacBook Pro.
I know this isolated bloom is better than full-screen bloom of traditional LEDs (I suppose), but I find the overall experience a large compromise and don't plan to buy another iPad until they move onto a different display tech.
I sold my near 1 year old 12.9" 6 months ago went back to a 11", lucky only dropped a few under AU here.
Kal-037
macrumors 68020
I still can’t see any issues on mine that aren’t normal everyday physics things. Y’all know OLED blooms too right? Light goes where it wants no matter the tech of the display. I LOVE this new Mini-led display as it’s the best of both worlds with getting deep deep blacks and bright true white whites, but no worry about burn-in or low brightness like OLED is limited by. I like the no purple tint when the screen is off too 😉 😉 lol
fel10
macrumors 68020
Not sure what OLED you have used but it is known to have 0 blooming unlike mini led. If you can’t see it, great, but it is certainly there.
grmlin
macrumors 65816
With an OLED I would be really concerned with burn in the way I use my iPad. I can use my iPad as a second screen at work with the same terminal opened for dozens of hours without the fear of burning in some UI elements.
I'm not sure Apple will ever switch to OLED in their high end iPads or Macs, they could have already done that years ago. It's not like OLED screens for laptops or tables are new
I'm not sure Apple will ever switch to OLED in their high end iPads or Macs, they could have already done that years ago. It's not like OLED screens for laptops or tables are new
Kal-037
macrumors 68020
*not trying to cause any offense or a fight… but it’s basically impossible to control the light bleed 100% (because science) 😉✌️… here’s Samsungs top OLED tablet (that has blooming and without being in a dark room you can see it.)
Attachments
BugeyeSTI
macrumors 604
After watching the video on the first page of this thread all I came away with was how amazing the mini led screen looks when viewing this type of content. I noticed the 'blooming" but it was nothing that has changed my opinion about the mini led display or my decision to purchase the 12.9 over the 11 Pro.
Traverse
macrumors 604
I feel like the OLED blooming is due to (1) the camera used to take the picture tries to draw out more light and (2) you can get some refraction depending on the display glass and how it's laminated. On the panel itself you don't have bloom as only the active pixels are lit up. With miniLED it's turning on tiny lights behind whatever group has the active pixel so non-active pixels will be illuminated as well.
Kal-037
macrumors 68020
The same “draw out more light” applies to the photos people took of the mini-LED. OLED is less light bleed-y and sharp… agreed.
But mini-LED is not at all bad like so many on here are complaining. LED beats OLED in better refresh rates and brightness, but OLED can’t be beat on blacks and more accurate colors. Both have great strengths but also “meh” weaknesses. 🙂👍
I'm curious if you are testing all of this in pitch black darkness. I tested this myself and it was nearly impossible to see any blooming if even minimal amounts of ambient light were present. In which case, the doctor's advice is simply "don't do that!"
I'm very pleased with the display overall.
Traverse
macrumors 604
Usually very dim lighting situations such as Hue lights set to the 10% which is what I do during late nights or early mornings
Nothing has happened to change it.
So, between one release and the next I saw that waggling the cursor in a “black” area would turn off those pixels almost immediately instead of waiting until the cursor had stopped moving, but that’s more of an ambient refresh speed more than it has anything to do with blooming.
By now, there’s likely just more entertaining things to complain about (like the Mac Pro).
fel10
macrumors 68020
To sum up, yes, because it’s the screen that Apple uses for the iPad pros, it’s not really a defective issue. Some people notice, some don’t, some notice but chooses to ignore it. This problem sill be resolved when Apple decides to use bother screen technology for the nest iPads.
I bought a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra with an OLED display and now the jelly scroll on the M1 iPad Pro has rendered it unusable for me. On a dark background the trail left by text is so noticeable and causes eye strain while on the oled it's instantaneous. Also, dark content looks perfect on oled while blooming is rampant on the M1 iPad. I would go so far as to say the grayish blacks of the older iPad were less distracting.
Apple needs to switch to OLED now.
Do you also see the trailing behind text while scrolling on the iPad Pro? Most notcieable on a dark background. It seems to be a response time issue but causes eye strain for me.
floral
macrumors 65816
Oh. Sorry, I haven't experienced it firsthand so by the 2 mo. of silence I assumed it was fixed? But if it isn't then boo to Apple.
grmlin
macrumors 65816
It's simply the state of the tech. We will see if Apple sticks to MiniLED or switches to OLED in the future I guess.
I love the screen but it has it's downsides. Well, one downside, some blooming in certain scenarios when you are in the dark. Everything else about is fantastic.
It's a tradeoff with MiniLED but the reason it's so bad on the iPad is because Apple prioritized brightness over blooming to make HDR impactful. Samsung MiniLED monitors like the Neo G7 and Neo G8 have close to OLED blacks because their algorithm prioritizes deep blacks over brightness.
Not fixed and probably never will be. The mini-LED MacBook Pros have significantly less blooming than the mini-LED iPad Pros, but it’s still present. Even with the improvements on the MBP, I was watching an HDR show on it in the dark last week, and there was a night scene with a lot of flashing lights. It was comical how bad it looked due to the blooming, like you couldn’t even discern what was happening. This is likely one of the reasons Apple is expected to move to OLED for both the iPad Pros and MacBook Pros next year. Mini-LED is a stopgap between LCD and OLED.
floral
macrumors 65816
Oh. So the only "fix" in sight is a switch to OLED?
I prefer retina over mini-LED and I'm frankly glad I went for the smaller size because that seems... annoying.