Macbook Air M1 camera quality

I found this issue on mine as well. While I don't use the camera for anything, the fact that it has poor quality either way still bothers me. I expected to get a good-quality camera from spending so much money on my first Macbook, and Apple failed to deliver. It doesn't make the sky fall, but it's rather disappointing, to say the least.

I purchased a new MBA M1 this week, upgrading from a MBA circa 2015. Was horrified by the poor quality of the webcam when I got it home (having spent the better part of an afternoon getting it set up with all my files etc). I use Zoom a lot - and the quality on my previous 2015 MBA was way better. It's practically unusable on my new machine.

I made an appointment at the Genius bar earlier today and took it in. The Apple store is flooded with light so I could not replicate the problem there - but, realistically, the set up in my home office is never going to be as bright as the Apple store. I suspect, having read all the posts on this thread, that it is indeed a design issue with not enough light getting into the aperture on the new MBs. Pretty big fail by Apple. My plan is to stick with my old MBA for now (I returned the new one) while I look around for a better solution. I really don't want to get an external webcam when I'm spending $2K on a new laptop.

Wow, you were smart for returning your machine. I can say, I wish I did the same. I, too, and on zoom a LOT and need a quality camera. Apple really needs to make this right for anyone that continued to hold on to their new macbooks! it is truly a super fail!!

NOTE TO APPLE: I will hold off replacing my perfectly working 2014 MBA (with a superior camera) until a better built-in camera is offered.

OP: I had the same problem and friends with recently purchased MBs also have the same issue. It's bad hardware. I returned a new 2020 intel MBA for that reason (plus the loud fan.) Both made video calls unacceptably loud and blurry.

Apple is not taking this issue seriously. They have messed-up this important issue in this pandemic when people are working from home and expecting to be on Video calls very frequent. Apple is trying to cover it up by taking away discussion using M1 chip performance and other story. It is not going to work. @applesupport please take this issue seriously and provide fix or replacement; we have spent thousands of dollars and not expecting such poor quality product delivered against our hard earned money.

People will only make it a problem, because we draw attention to it.. So many users probably od use a mac tomake zoom calls/skype etc,, but i don really see that big a deal IF the user has an iphone.. Apple should fix this up, but seriously they are obvously wanting to get more people to use iOS camera..

What i'm saying is: I do not think is an accident...... If it was, they would fix it ASAP... And the delay just proves that... If it's a technical issue, they too would have publicly announced it.. Apple wouldn' make great products, and then suddenly turn into "mr. nasty"if it was an accident.

They would do the proper channels.

By hiding it from users, they know they stuffed up.... Not the Apple i once knew if true.

I'm having the same issues, just received my M1 MacBook Air today, I've heard really great things about the M1 Chip so I was very excited to get this laptop! Was really shocked when comparing the camera quality to my 2013 MacBook Pro retina though, it looks so distorted... As a longterm fan of apple, kind of disappointed. I was considering going windows before I bought this laptop as it would've been cheaper. Ultimately, wen't apple though because I had such a great experience with my previous MacBook. Hopefully apple figures this out and can fix it through an update... Or, look into the issue, I would take it back but from what I've seen people are getting multiple units with the same issue; don't really want to have to deal with that..

Same issue here with the Macbook Pro M1.

I still have my old Intel MBP. I compared the facetime camera image quality on both, side by side, and the difference is shocking. The M1 looks like an early 2000's camera phone.

Sad to say, but Apple really doesn't care. They hype every model, and not until you've purchased one do you get to know it's real drawbacks.

I owned an iPad Pro and the picture was amazing, but that was all it was good for. I traded it in for this MacBook Air. Now watching a movie is so aggravating, and the sound is terrible too.

I had the same unfortunate experience when I bought the 2020 MacBook Air. I just couldn’t believe apple would ship a product with this quality camera. I returned it the next day. All the trouble shooting I went through with apple didn’t help. It’s a hardware issue. They need better cameras on the MacBook Air. Absolutely unacceptable. It’s unusable, garbage.

This was definitely a disappointment. I got my Air back in the fall of 2020 and I was excited to finally make the switch from PC to Mac. For the first month or two, I was convinced it was my fault - low lighting. I rearranged my living room to sit closer to some lamps. Bought external ring lights, etc. It wasn't until even *that* didn't solve the issue that I realized...its just a bad camera. It's incredibly disappointing for a machine at this price. And the way people rave about Apple products (including me, when talking about my phone and iPad), it certainly didn't live up to my expectations.

I started looking into the Pro and was shocked to find even that model had the same kind of camera...

I have purchased a new MacBook Air 2020, 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 to Apple!

The camera on my new MacBook Air 2020 as opposed to 2017 MacBook Air is appalling. I am horrified to hear that this is the way it is and can't be fixed. Why is it worse than my 2012 and 2017 MacBook Air? What's up with that?

I just picked up the M1 MacBook Air yesterday (from Best Buy) and yes, I can confirm the camera is really crappy. It in no way has the clarity/sharpness of a 720p camera. After reading this thread and a couple of others, I'm contemplating returning this unit. Even though I'm quite happy with everything else about this model, if the camera is this bad I find it a real drag to have to depend on this laptop for the next few to several years.

Same here. Apple should do something about this big issue. Just updated to macOS Monterey 12.0.1 (last version at 2th November 2021) and it's not fixed, so I guess it has something to do with the hardware.

Apple do something!