Significant light leakage, few light botches on sides/corners - defective?

Why don't people just wait a few months? It would solve a lot of problems and prevent heartache.

Utimately right now since there is still no word from Apple -- that is the only possible solution. I'm telling you guys again right now -- do NOT try to get another one right now because it will have the same problem, guaranteed. One guy on Mac Rumors spent over an hour at the apple store and they were going through iPad 2's in the rest room -- they went through 4 of them (all had display problems) before the guy finally said you know what -- forget it.

ET2H wrote:
Why don't people just wait a few months? It would solve a lot of problems and prevent heartache.

And...
Wait for refurbished iPads to be used as replacements. Refurbished devices from Apple are held at a higher quality level for being done right compared to production models that are just stamped out for fast delivery.

"keep taking it back"... well that in and of itself is quite an issue. The supply hasn't kept up with the demand and who has the time or the inclination to "keep taking it back"?

How about putting the responsibility on the manufacturer to acknowledge an issue here and announce plans to fix it in a timely manner? To keep making the same "mistakes" doesn't help any of us.

I'm really going to hate to type this next sentence but it is the truth for me. I would rather my online order be placed on hold, to assure that this issue is properly addressed, rather than to be shipped something I'm going to have to exchange the moment I get it. Quality for me has always been more important than speed of delivery. Promptness has its due place, but if I get it quickly and its defective, what have I really obtained.

akaivyleaf wrote:
"keep taking it back"... well that in and of itself is quite an issue. The supply hasn't kept up with the demand and who has the time or the inclination to "keep taking it back"?

How about putting the responsibility on the manufacturer to acknowledge an issue here and announce plans to fix it in a timely manner? To keep making the same "mistakes" doesn't help any of us.

I'm really going to hate to type this next sentence but it is the truth for me. I would rather my online order be placed on hold, to assure that this issue is properly addressed, rather than to be shipped something I'm going to have to exchange the moment I get it. Quality for me has always been more important than speed of delivery. Promptness has its due place, but if I get it quickly and its defective, what have I really obtained.

Totally agree. I wish my online order was held back so they could address the issue and fix it before sending me a product I am almost 100% sure will be defective. Pretty lame. Apple should also really focus on updating the community.

Rebecca41 wrote:
Hi Everyone - I'm sorry to hear about all of the problems you are having. I've never posted here before, but I just wanted to thank you all for sharing your experiences. I have been wanting an iPad for several months, but I waited because of the rumors of iPad 2 release. I'm not one to wait in line on release day, so I wasn't able to get one on Friday. Since then I've been reading the reviews and comparisons by people posting online. I was planning to get a 64MB black AT&T anyway, so I decided to get an iPad 1 at a discount. I figured the $150 price reduction made it worth it for me to skip the camera and faster processor. Some day, when they get the issues worked out or maybe when they release 3 or 4, I can get a newer one. So thanks again for sharing and helping me make that decision. I really hope all of you can find a resolution to these issues.

I'm with you, nly I don't plan on buying the original one. After reading this forum for several days, there is just no way I am going to buy the iPad2 until they fix this problem. I was just buying it as a new "toy", but if I'm going to spend this kind of money on a "toy", I want one that actually works correctly right out of the box. I have no intention of returning a defective product for another defective product..LOL
The only Apple products I have owned (8 in all) are various iPods and have always been extremely pleased. But, then again, they worked correctly from the get-go. I think I'm just going to bide my time and hang onto my money for a few months.

Still waiting on my iPad 2....

In the meantime, I just wanted to verify that this issue existed on the iPad 1.

My 32GB iPad 1st Gen had 0 light leakage problems
My 16GB 3g iPad 1st Gen leaked light horribly on at least 2 of the 4 edges. It was bad. I didn't bother taking it back because.. well... I'm lazy. My "solution" was to change my background to a lighter image.

Mine has this the bleeding problem. A black 32Gig AT&T unit I got on release day. Its not "horrible" and after seeing some of the pictures of some really BAD bleeding online I have decided to keep mine for now.

Pretty SAD really when I have to keep what I believe to be a defective product because I don't want to get one that is worse than the one I have. SAD.

To bad I sold my original iPad already or I'd return it.

Well...it's a week later and it's still there...maybe lighter..who knows. It's still awesome to use. It's like...the sex is good but the hair on her lip is a real turnoff.

Well, here's another data point for you all...

I purchased my black 16GB wi-fi at a Walmart on launch day (last Friday). The first thing I noticed out of the box was the leaking near the home screen button and the bottom right corner (assuming the home screen is the bottom). There was a little bit on the top right corner too but not as noticeable as the bottom.

I was approaching the 1/2 way mark with the Walmart return policy (14 days), so I was getting a little concerned and wanted to see what my options were. I booked a same day Genius Bar appointment at my local Apple Store. Brought the thing in, showed him the leaks on an iPhone sized app (with the black borders). He said, "yep, I can see it there" almost immediately and said that he'd go back and look to see if they had any in the reserve stock (meant for this kind of issue exactly, I presume...well, and DOAs and whatnot). Anyway, after a little while, he came back with a new replacement and after a little bit of paperwork, we swapped iPads.

Not all that confident that this new iPad would be the answer, I asked him if I could bring this new one back if it started showing signs of leakage too (do any NOT have leakage out there?). He said I could bring it back under warranty anytime in the next year (and it didn't seem to matter that I got mine at Walmart). I feel MUCH more comfortable with this 1-year window through Apple rather than the 8-day (and dropping) window with Walmart.

Unfortunately...the new iPad has equal or slightly worse leakage...(the long exposure seems to exaggerate the leakage a little bit, but it is DEFINITELY there)...


Aperture: f/3.5
Exposure time: 1
Lens F-Number: f/3.5
ISO: 400

At this point, I think I'm just going to hang onto this one for a few weeks and/or months to see if the issue will get any better...and if not, I guess I'll have to bring it back again...but only once supply has stabilized. For me, there's no sense in going back all the time and cutting into their iPad reserves just to gamble on the chance that the next screen is going to be better. I just feel a lot better now that I can work with Apple and not Walmart on this issue.

im on the same boat,

second unit replacement by apple with the same issue but doesnt make much sense to me to keep returning it right now if its more common then not. Got mine at best buy.

so im holding on to it for a while since i was told i can bring it back anytime within the first year.

😟 Sorry to hear yet another iPad 2 user got a defective unit. The worst part in all of this is that Apple is not saying what's going on. They are giving great support by allowing swaps, returns, etc -- but we all want to know what's causing the problem and when (or IF!?) it will be fixed!

I asked the Genius (who was really nice about the whole issue by the way) if he had seen any others, thinking surely he had; the issue is pretty well publicized at this point.

He said "not yet," (which made me wonder if I was just being a stickler) but he remembers seeing it with old iMacs and some iPhone 4s. He did say that they send my defective iPad back to the engineers and they'll figure note what's wrong with it and whatnot...I'm guessing that's either for iPad 2's produced in the future, or maybe the iPad 3. *So, if nothing else, I guess all our returns might help contribute to them making a change in the production process (if they haven't already)*. Fortunately this thing isn't a MAJOR issue for me since I run my screen at a pretty low brightness (which is why I'm okay waiting a few months to see if future iPad 2s are any better), but when I do notice it, it's pretty frustrating.

themovieguru wrote:
Based on this information it seems like there aren't actually any non-defective iPad 2s out there! Obviously that's not true, but the ratio doesn't look good you've got to admit.

Bear in mind, people NOT experiencing the issue are very unlikely to join a thread discussing and issue they don't have so that they can mention they don't have it.

I have three iPad2 and one of the three has light leak. With iPad1 I owned a total of 5, two of which had light leak. Based on my calculations Apple quality is actually improving (33% failure on iPad2 vs 40% on iPad1).

Small sample sizes with non-random participants are not a good way to draw broad conclusions.

I have two ipad1's, 4 iphones and they have zero leakage...not even a little bit.

I now have two ipad2's and BOTH have leakage, 1 considerable, the other less but still certainly noticeable.
I sent 1 back and am awaiting the replacement, I may live with the other because it does appear to be a systemic manufacturing issue.

I think they have a real problem yet again, sigh...I will NOT be a first round adopter with any future apple releases, they have lost my business in that regards.