Left side of M1 12.9” ipad pro getting hot

All right folks. I’ve been using the M1 iPad 12.9” ipad pro for a few months now and here is how I dealt with the “heating of the left side of the screen issue.”

The answer is don’t.

Sorry for the sarcasm but I tried to get help from apple in every way possible. I’ve contacted them via chat, via phone, made an appointment and brought it in to official apple licensed centers. All I got was the same answer “are you hurt? If the overheating warning message doesn’t appear then there is nothing we can do for you. Sorry.” ¯\_(ツ )_/¯ I was also told that if the issue was bothering me so much I should just return it during the two week return period and get a new one or whatever. I was pretty frustrated as clearly apple had no intention to resolve my issue and the fact that a product of this price and prestige called “pro” was heating due to memo pad usage didn’t make sense.

I did try going into a apple retailer and try recreating this issue with a displayed product. I put the brightness on max and opened memo pad and it took about 3 minutes for the left side of the screen to start getting some heat. So, I wasn’t the only one with a heating ipad pro.

I’m suspecting that this is an issue with the micro LEDs that generate heat which starts off in the left side and slowly cascades across the whole screen. My conclusion is either that only some people are bothered by it and some people may not or some products have this defect but it’s not enough for apple to actually give a care (as I did some googling and not many people seem to have the issue).

Does it bother me? Yeah.. kinda.. but then when I’m writing on the pad the screen orientation is so that the left side is away from me. Also, the heating seems to be less if the screen is not at full brightness and in a cool environment. Plus, my iphone 11 tends to heat up after extensive usage so maybe some heating can’t be avoided? I just figured since apple has what-so-ever no desire to resolve this issue what can I do? I figured I should avoid getting stressed about this issue and waisting my time and effort that’s all.

Hope this is some help.

Hi AnnieL2,

Thanks for the advice.

I've checked the battery myself and i've had someone from apple check remotely and directly. No issues with the battery were found. I also was instructed to restore to factory settings and see what happens.

I took it to the shop and i'm told to follow the previous instructions to give it some time and see what happens which leads me to wonder can this really resolve the issue?

the only apps i use are; notability, chrome, papership, onedrive, goodnotes, notes, photos those apps are basically open all the time. i don't see any anomalies in battery activity. Battery was checked by two apple employees once remotely when i asked via chat, and once directly when i took it to the shop.

i was told to wait a week and i noticed that when the screen gets brighter it gets hotter. i was in a bright area using the notes app and the whole screen, not just the left side, not warm but hot.

i was told to restore to factory settings so that's what i did. No, i did not restore software via itunes. when i connect to my pc it doesn't tell me to restore. Maybe it's a mac thing?

when i took it to the shop they left the screen on idle for a few minutes and didn't notice any intense heat and i was told that unless i get a overheating warning message from the system nobody can't do anything about it (policy). i don't get it. If it's a pro model shouldn't it be able to handle simple tasks without getting hot? does that i'm suppose to just use a warm ipad? googling it and most people never seem to have experienced any type of heat on the same ipad which leads me to believe i must have drawn the short stick.