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

I thought I would update this thread with my info. I had already gone through two iPad 2s due to light-leak. I returned the 2nd one.

I just tried again, bought a 64GB at&t iPad 2 this morning and this one is just as bad. It has the little splotches but it also has a corner of the screen that is basically covered in light.

Thanks for making a long post. I kind of enjoyed reading it.

Question to some of you guys:

- Why do you use 50% brightness for viewing movies in dimmed room? That's just too bright and will hurt your black levels anyway. Also it will introduce grains and picture noise. This will also show your light leakage even more.

Recommendation by goodolcheez:

- LOWER YOUR BRIGHTNESS SETTING TO 30% or LESS, depending on the level of dimness in your room.


Anyways, I have a great idea.

Why don't Apple sell "hand-picked" ipad 2's? Charge $200 more for zero light leak. And the ones with 2 or more minor leaks offer discount. Ones with severe leaks charge 10% of the ipad price.

Ol' Cheez, I hope you're kidding.. if not I feel for you. Maybe you are OK with giving 100% of the retail cost of a product and not receiving 100% (Apple reps have ALL stated this issue is NOT NORMAL and WILL BE REPLACED/WARRANTIED).

Soooo, YOU can choose how you want to ignore severe quality issues while Apple and everyone else ensures we get what we pay for. No one needs to be told how to use their device. If Apple wanted it less bright, they had the option to NOT ALLOW it to be as bright.

Funny all the apologists here when Apple themselves will look at these iPads and admit it's bad/not "in-spec".

This is the first ever apple product I have purchased, I have spent a lot of money on my iPad and am extremely disappointed with the quality as I also have backlight bleed issues in a corner and sides.
I bought my iPad from John Lewis, Apple will still replace it right.
What are most people doing. I am just thinking of waiting a couple of months to have mind replaced by which time the problem will hopefully be resolved.

I am irritated and sad about this

I have a rather bad "light leak" problem on my new 32GB wifi. Noticed while watching a movie, then found this thread (and others). Mine seemed to get worse, so I got a case # from Express Lane and went to my local Apple store this morning. Long story short: Apple knows about this issue. They only had a white 32GB in stock so they are ordering me a new one & will call & email when it arrives. Incidentally, another guy being waited on at the same time as me has the same issue on a white 32GB. Yet another woman had a bad power supply on hers...
It's so bright in the store that I plan on bringing a black jacket with me to cover the screen on the new one to check it. Man, mine was BAD... virtually every inch of all 4 sides had the yellow blotches & light leaks!

I have a rather bad "light leak" problem on my new 32GB wifi. Noticed while watching a movie, then found this thread (and others). Mine seemed to get worse, so I got a case # from Express Lane and went to my local Apple store this morning. Long story short: Apple knows about this issue. They only had a white 32GB in stock so they are ordering me a new one & will call & email when it arrives. Incidentally, another guy being waited on at the same time as me has the same issue on a white 32GB. Yet another woman had a bad power supply on hers...
It's so bright in the store that I plan on bringing a black jacket with me to cover the screen on the new one to check it. Man, mine was BAD... virtually every inch of all 4 sides had the yellow blotches & light leaks!

I wanted to give my experience... On 4/6 purchased a Black 64GB WiFi IPad2 from an Apple store and upon setup I detected a decent amount of backlight leakage at 50%. 4 spots on the left and one on the upper right. Taking it to 100% increased the visibility of it. I tried the "weight" and "wait" trick over the weekend with no success. I compared this to an Black 3G model which had a tiny bit of leakage but the owner was fine with it. Another person in my office had minimal leakage on the one they bought (type unknown). On 4/12 I tried to get a replacement but the Apple store didn't have one so I returned the unit. On 4/13 I was lucky enough to get a new model Black 64GB WiFi IPad2. After setup I detected a bit more leakage than the first one I owned that was diffused over more of the screen. Additionally, there was a bad pixel. I scheduled a visit and took it back to the store. They switched out with one in stock and it was worse. They tried another one (their last) and had same problem and a bit less than the others.

I had confirmed during purchase on 4/13 that there was a VERY limited supply of Black 64GB WiFi IPad2s. It is assumed that there were only about 10 or 20 delivered because the manager said it was VERY VERY limited (he didn't give out exact numbers).

So based on my numbers that shipment was at least 15%-30% defective. The person behind me during purchase had the same problem and was doing a switch to get a better one. Never knew if he did but highly doubt this batch was good.

I have decided to wait a few weeks at least and try again...

Sorry to hear that. Sounds really annoying.
I'm hoping since the store had to order one for me, there might be better luck on the next batch.
Certainly the issue has been flagged by Apple @ the factory by now.
My genius authorization work paper says: Issue verified: Yes. Issue: Light leak in all four corners.

Got my iPad yesterday (ordered 25th of April) I was kind of hoping to get away with this one BUT I got backlight bleed almost all aroun the becel. Will talk to Apple support tomorrow and see what happens... Keep you guys posted.

I am on my third and while exchanging a cover for my iPad 2 I ran into the manager that has been helping me. I let him know I did the early thing and got one. He asked me if it had the same problem.. Yes, it does. I can totally return/exchange it within the 14 days but I asked him straight up (and I trust him.. great guy) if I brought my iPad 2 back in down the road when this gets resolved if he could guarantee they would take care of me.. he said yes.

I think I may just trust him, be happy not wasting gas for awhile and get it taken care of when Apple gets this issue cleaned up.

I am going to try the screen/books thing and maybe that will work. I am over exchanging as you have to transfer your at&t plan each time.

Don't waste your time with the book thing, the issue is caused by the screen being pinched. Adding more weight won't help.

Had the same problem. First iPad 2 light bleed. Returned to apple store. Received replacement, replacement has same problem. Made appointment with Genius Bar. Tech told me the same thing. He was willing to switch out the iPad 2 but the problem may still be present. He suggested to wait a month until things got resolved and then exchange the defective unit. He was very honest and a good representative of Apple.

What is the failure rate on this? I think there are a lot of people out there having the same issue. What is your guess? 95% failure rate? If so, man I am so thankful I got a good one.

RULE #1: As one of the members has suggested, if you are the first time buyer and has a little bit of light bleeding, don't try to exchange it. You will be f#@ked. Generally, the first item is the best. So keep it.

Rule #2: if you haven't bought it yet, DO NOT buy it. I know I wouldn't. For now that is.

Somebody has posted this from another thread so I posted it here for ya guys.

http://www.cultofmac.com/if-your-ipad-2-has-display-problems-do-not-return-it-he res-why/87197

Jesus, that appears to be fairly brightly lit room and you can see the severe light bleeding there. It's shocking, lol.

I love my ipad2... I got a good one, first attempt.

Mine's way worse than that.