I recently replaced a 16" Macbook Pro with an M1 Macbook Air. I swapped out three units and they all have a pink tint on half the screen. I didn't have this problem on the 16" Macbook Pro. Is this normal for Macbook Airs? How have your experiences been?
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.
M1 MacBook Air Screen Issues
- Thread starter themacmeister
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I’m very particular about screens and haven’t noticed this on mine. I don’t think it’s normal and if it’s bothering you then I’d swap it out. Too good of a machine to have some weird screen tint mess with the experience.
It's noticeable on white and light gray backgrounds. You don't see a tint on Google's homepage?
do you have True Tone on or night shift.
I have the base MBA and its fine. Im also very particular about screens. Its brighter on the left hand side slightly than the right (can see it more in films with black bars) but no where near as bad as my 2015 MBP. so its fine for me.
Someone else did post a thread about their screen looking reddish but only when dark I think they said in a dark room... but like I said I'm more than happy with mine.
I have the base MBA and its fine. Im also very particular about screens. Its brighter on the left hand side slightly than the right (can see it more in films with black bars) but no where near as bad as my 2015 MBP. so its fine for me.
Someone else did post a thread about their screen looking reddish but only when dark I think they said in a dark room... but like I said I'm more than happy with mine.
Some members have reported the same kind of issue. I am not sure if all of them had to go looking for the light bleed, or it readily showed up to all in normal use.
Yes, I have True Tone on. I'm beginning to think that all displays have imperfections. Once I notice it, it's hard not get fixated on it. Thanks for your input!
yes, and after my eyes adjust to the new white balance, it’s still there. After going through three units, I noticed some are less severe than others.
Interesting. Yours have pink tint on white or light gray. Do you see it on black image with brightness set full in dark room? Is there red glow on the right side? Please see this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-macbook-air-black-uniformity-red-glow.2274365/
Could you comment your unit info about factory and manufacturing week in this thread?
Mine has this red glow on black or near black image but white and light gray uniformity is excellent, for example Google.com looks good, no tint at all.
Mine M1 Air has a little pink on the right hand side during boot up, but it goes black after that and I can't notice it at all. Not gonna worry about it. I'm thrilled with my new computer, and I'm not going to play the lottery trying to order another one.
Sounds pretty noticeable if it shows up on boot up already. I don’t think I have noticed mine doing it there.
Not even this? https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-macbook-air-black-uniformity-red-glow.2274365/
Please test and report there, since no one yet appeared having perfect screen in this test and peoples are wondering if they should try another unit(s) to find one.
Please test and report there, since no one yet appeared having perfect screen in this test and peoples are wondering if they should try another unit(s) to find one.
I ran my wife's MBA M1 through the test here: https://www.eizo.be/monitor-test/
Screen is phenomenal
I say this as someone who's uber picky about displays and flaws and dead pixels and ghosting, on and on..
Screen is phenomenal
I say this as someone who's uber picky about displays and flaws and dead pixels and ghosting, on and on..
My MBA M1 easily pass that test too but there is this one issue not showing in test like this and what I linked above.
I have been using a Macbook Air M1 for three days now.
In general, I am very satisfied with the quality and performance, even though I had to reinstall the OS because there were some bugs before.
However, I also have a problem with the display.
When the Macbook is running under artificial light (warm white LED), the display is ok (TrueTone / Night Shift / transparent windows all off). The illumination seems homogeneous and the white seems quite uniform.
Under daylight, near the window to be precise, I notice a slight red or pink color cast in certain areas.
This varies in intensity, but always affects the same areas.
It may be a reflection of the anti-reflective coating.
I'm not sure, whether it's worth exchanging the device in the hope of getting a better display.
What do you think?
In general, I am very satisfied with the quality and performance, even though I had to reinstall the OS because there were some bugs before.
However, I also have a problem with the display.
When the Macbook is running under artificial light (warm white LED), the display is ok (TrueTone / Night Shift / transparent windows all off). The illumination seems homogeneous and the white seems quite uniform.
Under daylight, near the window to be precise, I notice a slight red or pink color cast in certain areas.
This varies in intensity, but always affects the same areas.
It may be a reflection of the anti-reflective coating.
I'm not sure, whether it's worth exchanging the device in the hope of getting a better display.
What do you think?
Are you sure your 16 didn't have it?
I had a 2019 iMac 5k that I returned because it had this in a major way, replaced the screen and the replacement also had it. Apple ended up taking it back and I then bought a 2020 iMac 5k, which also has it (although much less).
Just got a refurb M1 MacBook Air and it also has it.
I had kind of assumed that all the P3 displays have some degree of this, some more and some less. It doesn't bother me anymore though, after about 6 months of living with it on the iMac. My brain just tunes it out and sees white/gray.
edit: Not to derail this too much but I'm finding text on the Air’s screen to be a bit fuzzy, not as sharp as the iMac or older Retinas. This is both with the 1280x800 and 1440x900 resolutions. Do you find the Air’s screen to be as sharp as your 16 was?
edit 2: just noticed this post is from December!😄 OP if you’re still around, give us an update - did you return it? Get used to it?
I had a 2019 iMac 5k that I returned because it had this in a major way, replaced the screen and the replacement also had it. Apple ended up taking it back and I then bought a 2020 iMac 5k, which also has it (although much less).
Just got a refurb M1 MacBook Air and it also has it.
I had kind of assumed that all the P3 displays have some degree of this, some more and some less. It doesn't bother me anymore though, after about 6 months of living with it on the iMac. My brain just tunes it out and sees white/gray.
edit: Not to derail this too much but I'm finding text on the Air’s screen to be a bit fuzzy, not as sharp as the iMac or older Retinas. This is both with the 1280x800 and 1440x900 resolutions. Do you find the Air’s screen to be as sharp as your 16 was?
edit 2: just noticed this post is from December!😄 OP if you’re still around, give us an update - did you return it? Get used to it?
Last edited:
anyone got this problem too?
i've had this problem everytime i opened an application for too long, in that case i opened microsoft word for too long and it seems like theres somekind of a shadow even after i closed the microsoft word.
i don't know what shoul i do, but would be appreciate if anyone knows what im suppose to do
just bought the macbook air m1 at february.
Meanwhile I exchanged the device. The new one does not have the problem with the red tint on white areas and also shows less red tint on completely black background when viewing from an angle.
The only flaw is the slight dark shadows in the upper corners, which are of course only noticeable with a bright background. I could also observe this in a similar form in the last device.
Do all MBA M1 screens have this problem with the darker upper corners?
So, i’ve had my MacBook Air M1 since December, few weeks ago i was doing some work, and noticed that my screen started flickering in purple, i spoke to the apple support told me to do few things to check if that problem would occur again, went in safe mode, problem didn’t happen, so today while doing my exam online, the screen started flickering again, and my phone was on the screen, and I realised that once mount my phone in the centre of the screen it happens, so I tried that again and nothing happened, please if someone is facing the same problem or know what has caused this to happen, please help me out
How do you mount your phone to your screen? What brand of phone is it? I’d expect cheaper phones to be more likely to produce interference.
I switched from a MacBook Air 2012 to M1 2020 last December (after 8 years of impeccable work the processor gave up) and I had a similar issue with the installation of OS. I swapped it for another new one in January since no plausible explanation I received from tech support. Have now developed a hardware screen fault - all of a sudden multiple vertical lines showing on the right hand side and flickering. Night shift/automatic light sensing has always been weird so I just switch these off. Also, Airplay and Screen Mirroring (wifi onto a Samsung TV) have never been reliable; Screen Mirroring with Netflix has never worked. Going away for repair right now. This is clearly not the same MacBook Air, unfortunately though, I'm just too hooked on macOS.
Last edited: