Grainy Image on MacBook Air 2020

The M1 has the same camera. It has the same problem because the Apple Store technician compared my Air with the M1, and it has the same grainy textures. Better yet, please do a real comparison between the 2017 models versus the M1, and you'll see the difference in camera quality. This thread has proof of it.

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I just contacted customer support for this issue. They claimed it to be "an ambient light issue" and they expect you to sit directly under a super bright light for the grain to be SLIGHTLY less bad. No accountability for their super expensive POS. Love the greed here, Apple. Customer Service didn't even try to trouble shoot with me. Stupid.

Not a lot of people mention this detail, but in addition to the poor quality of the image, the framing is really much narrower on my 2020 MacBook air compared to my 2017 MacBook Air, and I doubt that it’s a lighting problem... In order to get the same framing than my 2017 MacBook, I have to put my computer so far away that I can’t touch the keyboard anymore. What do you have to say about that, Apple? Îm selling this computer right away, any buyer here?

Exactly! Last Tuesday, I received my new Macbook Air 2020 and the quality of the camera is just so grainy and bad! I was very upset with that.

I compared it with my 2015 and 2017 Macbook Air and their cameras were way better!

Similar experience .

Bought a MacBook Air M1 4 days back and noticed significant difference in camera quality. Picture is very blurry. While doing a FaceTime with my wife, I found her picture quality from on older MacBook model to be far clearer than my new machine, which she also pointed out right away.

Another surprising issue is that whenever there is an LED light in the background, it interferes with the FaceTime camera lense and one can see a thick vertical ray of light running across the screen.

Surprising part is that on contacting the apple store and apple call centre, I was just given the response that “Apple is aware of the LED issue”.

The picture quality during FaceTime was so bad that I was thoroughly convinced that the camera is faulty. However service center executive maintained that it is not a hardware issue and also somewhat conceded that camera in the new machine are not that good and that there is nothing he can do.

It is really disappointing.

I had gone to Apple to address this situation. I was informed Apple intentionally went cheap on the Mac Air, 2020 camera. There is nothing that can be done. The only intervention they recommended was, use the camera in a well lit environment. It's a shame you can spend $1k+ on a device and they go "cheap." This needs to be address with a recall or partial reimbursement.

I could not agree more. Bought a 2020 model in October and the quality of the camera on Zoom, Google, Teams, Facetime is just atrocious. I am sorry Apple, this is just NOT acceptable, especially during the pandemic!!!! How sad you put profit over functionality.

apple.com/feedback. That's about all you can do right now. At first we hoped if they heard from enough people they'd take action. Now they know and they're just ignoring us. HOWEVER, if a class action suit or a legitimate response is ever made, hopefully those who complained will get what's rightfully due to them.

Has anyone heard any more about this? I purchased a 2020 MacBook Air to replace my 2013 Air. Even spent the extra cash to get more memory and storage! Finally had my first zoom meeting (almost 3 weeks after receiving the laptop) and the image quality was horrible! Worse than my 2013 MacBook Air. I contacted tech support and I was simply told that I have to hope the problem "trends" so that apple will do something about it. And now that the 14 day return period has passed, I can't even get my money back. Absolutely ridiculous. It took me a while to decide to spend that much money on a new computer and I am so disappointed.

I also went from a late 2014 MacBook Pro and the camera was much much clearer. I only bought a base model Air in Feb 2021, and I love all of the features, but with a cam this cheap this laptop is worthless.

As someone recommended earlier in this chat, I sent a complaint to apple.com/feedback about this problem. But so far I have not received a response. I also invested in a new laptop specifically because I wanted a fast and powerful device for video conferencing. This camera is absolutely the most pathetic thing Apple has come up with in recent years!

I'm in the same boat - just got the new MacBook air with the M1 chip and the camera is TRASH. Having to do zoom calls on my MacBook 2015 edition. How can you purchase a top of the line MacBook and get dealt such an awful camera? APPLE ARE YOU LISTENING??

It's not just yours. My computer and thousands of others too. I am a teacher and bought a new MacBook Air to teach virtually. I took it to the Apple store this evening and they said they have not seen this before. However, I have seen nothing but complaints online about this camera. My 2015 Mac looks like state of the art compared to this 2020 Mac.

Apple is absolutely lying if they said they have never seen this before. I had a Google meet today and I could not stop focusing on the quality of this device. I turned on every light and nothing seems to work. It’s very disappointing that I paid the amount of money, and now I have to purchase another laptop. I am unable to utilize this device for any virtual sessions.

Yes, I agree with that. When I went and sat in a room with a decent amount of sunlight coming, the quality of the camera was much better.

But the point is, if we have bought a new MacBook Air 2020 then why do we have to change places where there is light? The camera was expected to be good. And video calls are extremely necessary during this period.

Everything else is perfect, except the camera.