Extremely Blurry Screen M1 MacBook Pro 16

Still happening in 2025. MBP, 14" Nov 2024 model, M4 Max, Sequoia 15.6.1. Initially I was able to get the screen to select boot options and that showed fine, then my wallpaper would show for a split second before the LCD layer went out. Now it's all the time. External display works and everything else seems to run fine.

Very disappointing -- I still have two Minis, a MB, and a MB Air all running just fine (if slower) -- 2011-2016 models. Newer ≠ better I guess.

Costco has two year warranty on their electronics so take it back to them and they should fix it for free or replace it

Can you tell me how I could do this in the US?? We bought from Costco about 14 months ago and am having the same issue.

It just happened to me this morning as well. It took me 10-1/2 months to get this computer working when I first purchased it. Apple was ZERO help finding the issue, despite MANY hours on the phone and trips into the store.

I've been using Apple hardware/software exclusively since the early 80s. This will be the last! If I make it to Heaven, I let y'all know what Steve thinks about it. ;-(

I experienced this issue with my M2 MBP a month after I spilled some liquid on the keyboard. I decided to repair it for around $900 for a screen replacement. But recently (after 6 months), it happened again. I was doing some work when the screen suddenly went dark, leaving only the mini-LED backlight, which shows dark and bright parts of the screen. By the way, probably, I found the same issue with the iPad Pro 12.9 with the mini-LED screen. Here is a possibly related thread:

Gen 5 iPad Pro 12.9, display very dim/blu… - Apple Community

same problem here ~ i'm from berlin germany and went to the applestore yesterday ~ the guy wouldn't even acknowledge the problem.. the store had such bright lights, that you couldnt even see the display turning on. i told him we would need to go to a darker enviroment and he told me that they dont do this kind of troubleshooting. instead he blamed the displaydefect on a microsmall dent in the glass. i was 6month past warranty. payed 3800€ for this macbook ~ repair cost were around 900€.

i think there needs to be some class action suit for this matter..

I'm experiencing the same dark and blurry display issue after 18 months of ownership. I will add that I noticed some screen flickering a few weeks before, and a few instances where the screen went out but came back after closing and re-opening a few minutes later. Then it became a permanent problem.

Apple support referred me to a local authorized Apple Service Provider. I told him I tried all the tests and tricks without success, but that I've been using an external monitor without problems. He checked for physical damage, but saved me the $35 intake fee for them to run the same tests I've already done. He said that the graphics card is fine if it worked with my external monitor. Basically, I would be charged $925 for a full screen replacement. He said he had not heard of any widespread display issues since the 2016 models.

Those of us with this issue may be on the early end of something that points to a larger manufacturing issue, or we are just an unlucky batch. Either way, no recalls or warranty extensions have been offered by Apple to resolve this yet.

A 16-inch M1 Macbook of the same age without screen issues is valued at $1.5-2K. So, spending nearly $1K for a replacement screen is unreasonable. Plus, how long would a replacement screen last? Another 18 months?

Same blurry issue on mine. Just past warranty. Apple wants $800 to fix it, just as most previous posts note. They immediately knew what was wrong, as they must see this all of the time.

I doubted too that it's the lid angle sensor because the screen does know when to turn on and off. It turns on all right, the image is there, but it is very dark and blurry.

Hi all, just wanted to share.

I was able to log in somehow through the very blurry screen. I then connected it to an external monitor.

After hours of playing with the “display” settings, the screen came on unbelievably.

I believe now the issue is the “pro motion” option in the display settings. Changing it to 60hrz, and set the preset to HDR seems to have done the trick. (See pic)

FYI, I did update to Sonoma and had to go through the whole thing again, and it was more of a pain the second time because for whatever reason Sonoma removed the 60hz option, and was only allowing the “Pro motion”. (Thanks again Apple!!!) Eventually it resolved itself when connecting to a different, older monitor, which made it match the main display (the Mac display) to the monitors.

its been holding now for several days, though there is a line that appears at times in the middle of the screen. That tells me there is something broken with the monitor but the OS is making it worse.

Hope this helps.

In the beginning, I also thought, it was the lid angle sensor. I replaced the angle sensor and it seems like the issue still persists! However, the angle sensor probably works perfectly fine. It detects opening of the MacBook (boots when being shut down) as well as closing the lid because the camera is unavailable when being closed.

Still, the screen doesn't seem completely broken as it works (sometimes) during diagnostics mode. :|

From my research, it appears the blur is because the computer remains in IDLE mode, and can sometimes lose its backlight also but I think its still in sleep mode rather than a backlight issue.

The reason I think this is because mine was broken and after a year I updated the software and everything worked as normal for a day and then it went blurry, so its not a backlight issue as software fixed it.

The cause is the Lid sensor. When you open the computer, the lid sensor normally would turn on your computer, the M1 model and up, uses magnets around the lid sensor and these magnets need calibration.

I can link a video on potentially how to fix this or to see further what I mean, but this is a serious issue apple needs to address. If you lean your phone up against the screen or leave the battery charger in for long periods it could change the magnet of the lid sensor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u18D_NPGhzQ

It’s unfortunate. I’m hoping to get some information from Apple or someone who does repairs to confirm the most likely cause of the issue. It seems like a backlight flex cable type of issue but who knows. Tried to share my experiences with support on here, in regard to addressing and identifying the issue but it was flagged for some reason. Long story short, it will set you back around $800 USD. We’re gunna have to sit tight and see if higher frequency of complaints of the same issue result in recall.

Wow. this definitely now sounds like a major major manufacturing issue and there's gotta be a recall.

It happened to me again 🥺

I previously posted in this thread regarding my MBP M1 Pro that got the Death-Blur.

While waiting on some type of resolution I did buy a new Air M2 in January 2024 --- And guess what, 2 weeks ago the same thing now happened to it...

Theory:

Looking back at what i did just before this happened that correlate with things i did on my MBP, I do have a theory of what could be a trigger of this issue.

On both my Mac's that got this issue the common action is that repeatedly did placed my iPhone on the left side of the computer leaning towards the screen. Could this potentially be something that effected the screens magnetic lid sensor 😱 ?