max brightness significantly reduced after 13.3.1 update (iPadOS/iPhoneOS)

Last night I had used the link in Settings to read Apple's 13.3.1 update page, and I could have sworn it mentioned "battery" somewhere. I have looked at every Apple page on 13.3.1 I could find today. I found only 2, an overview and one dedicated to the security updates. Neither page looked familiar nor mentioned battery. My assumption and conjecture is that the reduction in max brightness was intentional to increase battery life. As per my OP, I only found one user posting on reddit that described an identical issue after updating their iPhone 11 to 13.3.1.

I spoke to Apple Support today, described the issue, and without requesting it, the Apple support tech escalated the support call to their supervisor. After hearing the issue described and having me check to make certain auto-brightness was not switched on, the Apple support supervisor immediately agreed with me that hardware replacement is reasonable, and volunteered that they would report the issue internally in the event other identical support calls describing this issue occur.

I bought the iPad Mini 5 on sale last week from Amazon, so Apple directed me to contact Amazon for replacement. I spoke to Amazon afterward, and without any resistance, they ordered a replacement iPad Mini 5 at no cost to me, and emailed me a return shipping label.

Since I have 30 days to return the first iPad Mini, and the replacement will arrive next Saturday, I can safely wait a week to software restore, wipe clean my fingerprints, repackage as best I can in the original packaging, and return the like-new original, in order to compare the brightnesses of the two side-by-side in strong daylight, one at iPadOS version 13.3.1, and iirc I believe the replacement will be at iPadOS version 13.1.3 (I'll know for certain next week)l This will confirm there is a significant difference in max brightnesses between identical hardware with variant iPadOS versions. I intend to make and upload a video somewhere to show the notable max brightness difference, and will post a link here to the video before marking this issue resolved.

I don't expect most users to notice the drastic differences in max brightness between the iPadOS versions unless they also often use their iPad in bright daylight environments, such as outside under bright sky and sun. Indoors and at night, the brightness levels are just fine.

In the meantime, hopefully other users might notice and post their experiences. So I ask this issue not be marked resolved until I do so myself hopefully by the end of next weekend, Monday 23 March. One wrinkle, though the Amazon operator initially said I'd receive replacement 31 March, she subsequently said it would arrive next Saturday, which is 21 March.

Again I thank the Apple Community for support, and I also thank Apple, Inc., and AppleCare Support representatives, as well as Amazon Customer Service for a painless and near immediate path to hardware replacement.

After wiping and factory resetting the first iPad Mini 5, which is running iPadOS 13.3, the dimmer max brightness issue disappeared.

Updating the second iPad Mini 5, which was not restored from the problematic long string of backups from earlier devices, from iPadOS 12.3 to iPadOS 13.4. the dimmer max brightness issue never materialized.

Since the issue is resolved I will mark this resolved with my gratitude to Apple Community Support. Thanks.

I just wanted to add, eyesight is a funny thing. Our ability to see in different lighting environments is dependent on how fast our eyesight adapts to those environments. The older we get, the longer it takes for our eyesight to adjust to bright and dark environments. Identical screen brightnesses may appear different depending on whose eyes are looking, and how long those eyes had to adapt the the ambient light, and that is true whether the environment is very bright or very dark. My neighbor is 6 years older than me and swears he can see in total darkness, but I know better. He can't see better than me, and I can't see in near total darkness without hours or even a week of dark adaptation.

I don't believe the issue I am reporting is because of my eyes. For 2 days I was appreciating the superior screen brightness in strong daylight of the iPad Mini 5 compared to my iPad Mini 2, and the very moment I was back in a daylight environment after updating to 13.3.1, I noticed the max brightness was significantly dimmer.

That said, regardless of my perceptions, it is still within the realm of possibility that the issue is only with my aging eyes. I expect to find out for certain after the replacement iPad Mini 5 arrives. But the comparison video I intend to produce may not clearly show the issue even if it does exists and is significant. But I will try nevertheless.

Have a nice week.

The replacement iPad Mini 5 arrived today, and it was immediately evident the max brightness was twice as bright, and the pem software version was indeed 13.1.3.

I wanted to set up the 2 minis to be identical for comparison pictures (idky I suggested a video, that was unnecessary), so I launched iTunes to restore my previous backup, which was last made from my first iPad Mini 5 a day before the update pushed through, when it was still at version 13.1.3. Things were going swimmingly, until I foolishly stepped away for literally 2 minutes to return to discover the replacement mini now just finishing an update to iPadOS 13.3.1. My heart sunk. The max brightness was now exactly the same as my first iPad Mini 5.

I learned online that Apple, in their infinite wisdom, recently unsigned every update previous to 13.3.1, so thoughts of downgrading were now impossible.

I called Amazon again to ask for yet another replacement and new shipping label, and waited on hold while I used the factory resets on the replacement mini to clear data, intending to clean it up, carefully wrap it back up in the plastic, box it up and send it back today.

When the replacement iPad Mini 5 restored, the max brightness was back up to, as far as I can tell, where it was new on versiom 13.1.3. Relieved, I immediately disconnected the call.

https://i.imgur.com/oWIT1VL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RKbcRsx.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/H0QVkQu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RpcNorQ.jpg

So I took some pictures so that, while everyone already knows I am crazy, at least that I wasn't imagining the subdued max brightness issue, just the probable cause. But I must admit I was absolutely wrong and mistaken about Apple monkeying with max brightness settings between updates, and instead, something is happening with restoring my backups from, who knows. at least originally the Summer 2007 iPhone, the 2010 iPhone 4, 2012 iPad 3, and finally the iirc refurbished iPad Mini 2 I didn't get until 2014, or anywhere in between, that is preventing the new iPad Mini 5, after backup restore, from reaching or really getting anywhere close to its max brightness. In short, as far as max brightness is concerned, there's nothing wrong with iPadOS 13.3.1 update.

I'll leave this discussion unresolved for a week or two, before marking it resolved, in hopes of hearing from community members that may have an explanation for this, possibly a fix that will allow me to restore from backup without suffering the problem. I even suspect the high probability that for the entire 7 years I have used my iPad Mini 2, that it also was unnecessarily suffering from my unbeknownst self-infliction of problematic backup restores, and using it at a greatly subdued max brightness with tremendous difficulty and annoyance.

We do it to ourselves.

Correction OEM iPadOS version was 12.1.3, and it autoupdated in iTunes to 12.3.1. I'll likely update to 13.3.1 once I restore my first mini to determine the max brightness is restored.