iPad Pro iPad pro front camera glass issue

[Pinguins]

Hi all. I have an iPad Pro 11” 2022 for 11 months now and beneath the glass of the front camera it seems that some crystallization is forming. This started a couple of months ago and keeps growing. I sent it for repair but Apple says: damage, no warranty. I did not do anything wrong with it, there is no scratch on it. What could have caused this? (Apple did not provide info yet)

 

[rui no onna]

I think that might be mold, not crystallization.

 

[sparksd]

I think that might be mold, not crystallization.

Yeah, the lens fungus problem seen in camera lenses.

 

[Pinguins]

Thanks. How would that get in there? I did not do anything abnormal with it. I use it in the living room and take it with me in the car in a suit case when I go somewhere else. I do not leave it in humid or cold environments.

when light shines on it from the side, it has a pinkish/violet hazy reflection, just like some coating or so.

 

[hamiltonDSi]

Yeah, the lens fungus problem seen in camera lenses.

Lol. I’ve been an iPhone and iPad user since day 1 and a member on this forum for over a decade and this is the first time i’m seeing this.

 

[honcho]

How did you take the photo? I have something similar developing on the front camera of my M1 iPad Pro. I was thinking that it was some kind of debris.

 

[Pinguins]

How did you take the photo? I have something similar developing on the front camera of my M1 iPad Pro. I was thinking that it was some kind of debris.

I took it with my iPhone 15.

 

[honcho]

I took it with my iPhone 15.

Thanks. I’ll try using my iPhone to take a closer look at what’s going on with my iPad.

 

[maerz001]

View attachment 2368105Hi all. I have an iPad Pro 11” 2022 for 11 months now and beneath the glass of the front camera it seems that some crystallization is forming. This started a couple of months ago and keeps growing. I sent it for repair but Apple says: damage, no warranty. I did not do anything wrong with it, there is no scratch on it. What could have caused this? (Apple did not provide info yet)

I would try to escalate with apple. Don’t see how this could be done by you

 

[Pinguins]

Yeah, I sent it for repair to Amac and and they said no warranty. They did not give any explanation what caused it, nor did they prove that I caused the defect, which, by Dutch law, is necessary. I have legal expenses insurance I provided all information. They already gave me the money to get it repaired because they are very confident to get is back from Amac since Amac has no way to win this case if it would go to court.

Luckily I have this insurance, but it is a lot of fuss to get what I am entitled to.

 

[soloer]

Whatever is going on there is the same thing I’ve had on mine for over a year. No idea what it is, but is part of the reason I plan on upgrading.

 

[Pinguins]

I took a picture with different lighting.

 

[Analog Kid]

I took a picture with different lighting.

From that shot, it almost looks like adhesive squeezing out?

I see something similar with a 2021 M1 12.9" Pro. I thought it was just debris crusting up in there, but haven't looked at it that closely because it doesn't seem to be bothering the camera in mine. Yours is more aggressive.

 

[Pinguins]

It seems like the glass is glued to a small glass disc (maybe a filter) and it is coming loose. But I don’t know how the iPad is built.

 

[honcho]

Interesting that other people have the same issue. I wonder how widespread this issue is? I think my AppleCare cover ran out recently, but I might drop buy an Apple Store and show them this thread.

 

[soloer]

Whatever this issue is, I traded in my iPad that had the same issue today and the person at the Apple Store didn’t bring it up at all. Not sure if they didn’t care or what but I wasn’t about to bring it up.

 

[Pinguins]

That is nice. I was expecting that too from Apple.

 

[FredSchulz]

I have the same exact problem on my iPad Pro 12.9 5th generation.

 

[evdriver]

I noticed a ring forming inside the glass, but the issue that killed my iPad is my microphone was over 50% covered in this growth/ooze/? I went to an apple store and they tried to clean my microphones, but it made no difference. Apple just exchanged my iPad under my AppleCare+.

Here are photos I took with my hand held microscope.

 

[Gadget Gadget Gadget]

I have exactly the same problem on my 11 inch M1 iPad Pro. It’s been like that just over a year, just after my two year warranty ran out. When I took it up with Apple, I was quoted some ridiculous figure for addressing the issue. I suspect they just intended to replace the whole of the internals of the iPad. I’d be really grateful if anyone’s got any insight into the cause of this and if it’s something that Apple should be dealing with at their cost, if it’s an intrinsic fault that was there at the time of purchase. I am in the UK, so English law applies to me.
Thanks in advance for any help

 

[iFish12]

I had this issue for years, I was always worried about it, but it only started getting progressively worse this past year. I suspected it was humidity but I never really knew.

About a month ago my iPad disabled Face ID saying it detected an issue, but it said "hey maybe after an update, it'll be fine" and coincidentally the error happened the same day a new iOS came out, I guess 18.5. I updated and Face ID worked again. When 18.5.1 came out, Face ID was disabled again.... I update and it's fine. But next morning: disabled again. I don't really want to do this cat-and-mouse game. I don't want to do a fresh iPad restore as I don't use iCloud.

Needless to say I take the iPad to the Apple Store (I got this iPad 4 years ago, on release day. It's the 12.9" M1 iPad Pro) and they run the diagnostic which doesn't detect any physical problems. The Genius admits if it were an iPhone they could actually repair it for me, but since it's an iPad they quoted me a costly option (basically replacing the device).

This was my first time buying an iPad under what I'd call "unhappy circumstances". I probably should've taken my iPad to the Apple Store the moment I noticed the stuff under the camera instead of waiting so long. I don't even know if it's a coincidence that this happened and then my sensor died.

Despite having a busted Face ID, since the iPad still passes Apple's diagnostic checks: I got full trade-in value on the iPad. But I still spent a lot of money on a replacement device.