Grainy Image on MacBook Air 2020

i've just taken delivery of my MBA 2020 and the camera image is so terrible I am not sure what to do about the machine now. I paid to have a ton of upgrades so overall this was a £1800 machine. The camera is about the worst i have seen since laptops started coming with in-built cameras. I hope, Apple, you find that damning... but i suspect you won't care. The web is awash with similar complaints. To see someone commenting saying wipe the screen and check your internet connection; it's just offensive. The camera quality is so bad in low light that i can barely even recognise myself. I joined a video call the other night and everyone was commenting about how bad it was, unprompted. I genuinely don't know if I will keep this macbook... i feel like it will be my last, at least, if this is the type of thing we can expect. Apple support were meant to call me back this evening to discuss it but what a surprise, they didn't.

And yet viewing iSight photo taken on my 2014 MacBook Air on a Retina display isn’t anywhere near as grainy as the one take with the newer computer. They are both 720p webcams but the quality in the newer device is worse.

Top photo was 2020 MacBook Air. Bottom photo 2014 MacBook Air.

Same here, bought it last wednesday. Totally dissapointed about the webcam quality. My 2015 Air was much better. Thinking about returning my Air if there is no solution. Worthless now we're using webcams a lot more during corona.

yea i know you're not apple. When I say 'you' it's like I'm shouting at the clouds I guess. There is no way to formally complain about the product. There is no complaints facility that I can see (maybe if I write to Tim Rice at the big doughnut silicon valley or something) and every time I raise it with apple support i get mysteriously disconnected. They (not you) do know it's a substandard product and I guess there is not much they would be prepared to do about it. I almost wonder if I should just return it.

Exactly! I just "upgraded" to the 2020 Air from the 2015 Air and I was SO shocked and disappointed to see that somehow the camera quality looks worse on the newer model. It's so grainy!! Even in decent lighting it's grainy.... It's probably my only (if not one of very few) and biggest issue with this laptop. Like I know it's a relatively less-important complaint but I'm just so disappointed.

Second that!. I just purchased this $1500 underperforming laptop yesterday and then I opened the webcam...I swear to God!

At the store, I was filled with awe at the 2020 model and scorning at my ancient 2013 outdated one. Looks like the older version was way better (if not the best). I should have done my research with people before buying this...so I guess its my fault included.

The video quality is horrid and grainy, like dude...I paid you big bucks, for this crap?? Apple better do something about this...If not this is definitely going to be my last investment in Apple products. SMH

This really sucks, got the Air 2020 and its worse than the 2013 one ! Unbelievable the places apple has been cheaping out in, especially now during COVID where Facetime is such a big deal! Fix your grainy camera apple and I am on 1Gig line so don't tell us its the internet !

Wife just unboxed and set up brand new 2020 Macbook Pro - she bought it to use for video conferencing and the video quality is horrible and unacceptable. Have sent back to Apple for a refund, unfortunately will be buying another brand.

This thread is full of people with brand new 2020 Macbooks complaining of the same problem. Return your new Macbook now and get a refund, there is no fix for the terrible video quality.

And no...the webcam quality isn't designed to use less bandwidth and compression, it's just rubbish.

I just purchased the 2020 Macbook Air model for work and the camera is horrible. It is grainy and blurry. I gave my son my old 2013 Macbook Air and I may need to use my old 2013 laptop for Zoom meetings. I can't understand why the camera on the 2020 model is worse.

Can someone help?

Hi,

btw We are not Apple, we are just Apple users helping other Apple users in need of help.

I’m gonna update that statement above. I made it when I didn’t really know the camera issue then.

and yes, not just for the MacBook Air, but the MacBook Pro. I have gotten some for testing and the let down is actually the webcam. Apple has used this webcam for years without changing it and thus looks quite horrible to today’s standards. Check photo booth. It is blurry, so it can’t be the internet connection. I also suspect it’s because of the webcam quality.

Apple has not used this webcam for years. This problem is only occurring in 2020 MacBook line up. This issue isn't very well known yet but I personally have bought 3 2020 MacBooks and all of them have had this problem and I have compared it side by side to my 2015 Macbook Pro and the camera quality difference is night and day. 2015 Macbook actually seems to have a 720p camera whereas this one seems like 360p or 480p. Someone at apple messed up. Either this is hardware related in which case apple will have a huge recall program on their hands or its a software bug that should be fixed soon. This isn't a isolated incident if I have found it in 3 different MacBooks (different models) and as you can see on forums this issue is well known to 2020 Macbook owners. 2019 and previous MacBook webcams seem fine. This seems like another butterfly keyboard type disaster and I would advise everyone who has a 2020 Macbook to either return it or get Apple to fix it. I really liked the laptop but after paying so much money for a laptop I expect better. Similar quality to 2015 Macbook would have been fine but this is an expensive downgrade. I'll contact apple care tomorrow and if they only offer an exchange (I've made 2 exchanges so far) I will be returning this laptop for good.

yes. I had purchased exact same 2020 MacBook Air model and it had worse camera than 2015 MacBook Pro. After a lot of research I figured out that since 2018 Apple changed the MacBook design and made the lid slimmer and put in the same camera they’ve used on older macbooks but made the camera hole much smaller. If you compare both camera holes side by side and look at the size you’ll see the new MacBook has small tiny camera hole which leads to less light and all photos and videos look grainy in low light thus your new MacBook has grainy and low quality camera. It doesn’t actually have a worse camera but due to this flaw in the design the camera sensors get less light and makes it blurry. The only fix is to add more brightness with better lighting but it doesn’t help much or to pay for an app and download it to enhance your webcam to apply filters over it and increase the brightness of the image. There doesn’t seem to be any other fix. Just return the MacBook if you aren’t satisfied and wait for new one or buy an external wireless camera or use your phone as the camera or iPad. A lot of users on here have this issue but on reddit and other places most people have ignored this issue and instead blamed the users for not knowing how to use the MacBook properly and not doing their “research” for calling this a downgrade in camera quality. They’re ignorant of the fact that in 2018 this design change happened. The brand new users who don’t complain are either upgrading from latest macbooks or those who never bothered paying attention to camera quality or don’t care or new MacBook users. Only people with older macbooks like 2015 or 2012 are the ones complaining and if you google 2018 MacBook camera issues or 2018 MacBook low quality grainy camera you’ll find tons of posts and stories and even YouTube videos and some general advice or fixes. That’s the best advice I can give you. Google that maybe you’ll find something there. That’s how I found out about this whole issue. You can even google check my webcam resolution and I compared the resolution and sensor of 2015 MacBook and 2020 MacBook side by side and the 2020 has same exact model of camera same exact resolution just worse contrast and brightness due to low light. But do the experiments to find yourself. Good luck!

Check:

1) internet connection

2) wipe any fingerprints from the screen (I’ve seen a lot of MacBooks that are FILLED with fingerprints

Sadly there isn't much you can do except ask to return it and buy another model (or a refurbished/owner by a third party Pre-2018 MacBook Air). If you can't return it due to be over the limit of days possible, the best you can do is call AppleCare, get escalated to a senior advisor and convince them to send you a Webcam for free due to the Macbook's Air info page obviously false advertising:

"The FaceTime camera lets one — or many — of your friends and family members see you in high definition."

Source: https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/

IF you need a good camera for work (and you bought it for that reason), and the info page states it give you "high definition" camera, then I feel most agents would agree with you deserving a free webcam if it cant be returned anymore.

send Your complaint through this link here it will be reviewed individually by Apple management team

http://www.apple.com/feedback

just discussing here in the forum won’t help.

so if enough negetive feedback reach them they might see to this.