Have just purchased a new MacBook Air (2020 model). Have bought to use for home working (Zoom meetings, etc) and the image is really grainy when using Zoom or FaceTime. Is this normal with Macs?
MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.15
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!
All right. I hope they can fix it with some macOS update soon.
But at the end, did you ask for your money back and stay with or previous MacBook or did you change it for another model?
Same thing here... the camera image quality of my Mac air 2014 was much better than my brand-new 2020. Unbelievable !!!
May I know any solution for this?
My image is very grainy. I see others’ images are quite sharp ! Wish this can be resolved!!
Yeah, I think the quality is worse than my 2014 MacBook Air. Really bummed that this is my experience, especially with all the touted upgrades like the M1 chip.
Even I've noticed that, in the beginning I thought it might be because of low light, and when I tested the camera quality in day light, it was still terrible and grainy. Even other people that happened to join the meeting complained the same and I could see previous gen MacBook Air camera is good.
Any suggested fix for this?
Wow. For my own computer I have switched to Dell xps. Happy with it. My daughter is Still attached to the Apple ecosystem so we got a new macbook pro For online college. Camera is terrible. 2014 Macbook air camera is way better. I guess I should return it and get her a dell. Called Apple support they were no help . Bought webcam app which did not work.
I have purchased a new MacBook Air 2022, to replace a MacBook Air from 2015. Not that the older MacBook had to be replaced, because it still works great. I just wanted a new MacBook. The quality of the webcam in the new MacBook Air is bad, compared to the older one. It's painful! Imagine Steve Jobs getting a new MacBook Air and calling loved ones! He must be turning around in tech-haven now. He is missed as he made sure only superior quality products were sold! Shame!
Very upsetting to see that my 2013 MacBook Air has better camera quality than my 2020. Very unfortunate downgrade.
Used screen cleaning gel and ensured my internet connection was up to par, it is simply the device.
I just bought this laptop a few weeks ago and the camera is absolutely terrible. I had called tech support to address the issue. I've had several people tell me that it is possibly my lighting quality, when there is plenty of lighting. I've also had the technicians tell me that it is the software the causes the issue. They advise I swap out my laptop for a replacement. STILL an issue. Really disappointed in the quality of the camera and how grainy and pixelated this is. For goodness sakes, the newest iPad pro has better camera quality than the laptop. How embarrassing for apple!
I purchased 2 for my twin daughters, which are freshmen at college in Virginia (17.5 hrs away), if I’d known how terrible the FaceTime was going to be I wouldn’t have invested in the 2 MacBook Airs that I purchased. Highly disappointed!
I just purchased the MacBook Air and the picture quality is terrible. I spend time speaking to tech support and was told that it was the adjustment of the display which we changed and it look a little better but nothing compared to the quality picture I had on my 2013 MacBook Air. Not only is the picture grainy the color is off with a yellow ting which even show up on the pictures I downloaded from my old Mac. The tech said I was the only one that they knew of that had this issue yet here I am with 900 other people. I am thinking of returning and getting my money back and I've been an Apple customer since the 80's. The whole point of the new MacBook was for Zoom meeting and it's a terrible picture.
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.
My Macbook Air 2020 came yesterday. After I opened it and tested the camera I was shocked. My early 2014 Air has 20x better quality for its camera. Since I primarily use my computer for Zoom these days, I thought I must have gotten a dud. I called Apple support today and they let me know that the 2018, 2019, and 2020 models are all having this camera quality issue. They told me to use "ambient lighting" to improve it (lol). One tech support person told me that the issue developed at the beginning of 2020. Another person told me it's a hardware issue that only impacts the Macbook Air 2020. So, I'm not sure, but I can say that no one wanted to be direct about it even though they all said that there was information in their database about this problem and that others have called in with this same issue. They said it was built to be this way, but no one knows why. There is currently no fix for it. They told me I could either pay to upgrade to the Macbook Pro (which doesn't have camera problems) or return the Air and go for a 2017 or previous model... I am still shocked. Why would they make a decision to downgrade the camera? It is so bad!
I am having the same issue about the grainy camera of MacBook Air 2020. I just got my laptop this Monday. I spoke to three advisors about this concern and they provided with all the possible ways to fix the issue. None of those resolved the camera concern. Now, I'll be sending my laptop for service and Apple will check what's wrong with the camera and try to fix it. If it still does the same thing, they'll give me a new one which I am concerned since I am not the only who's experiencing this issue. For those who returned your laptop, what course of action did you do? Did Apple give a new one with a better camera? Did you upgrade to MacBook Pro?
Grainy Image on MacBook Air 2020
