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

OK. I just got off the phone with Apple support for the light leak on my replacement iPad2. The girl got right to the point and told me they were aware of the problem with the display, the display itself is made in Japan, they've "captured" enough of them to identify the problem and the new ones shipping now do not have the issue.

*I then asked: "So, you support reps have been told this WAS an issue and it is NOW fixed"? She said "yes".

I have an 11am appointment and will report back, if any are in stock... and so it goes.

At least she was extremely clear about the issue and was quite insistent that it's been fixed.

Interesting.

I'm sending back one tomorrow, if the return box gets here today.

Are the replacements that people are getting brand new units in the box?

The ExpressLane guy told me to send back only the iPad not the box and accessories. Which I found odd if they sending me a new unit.

Well, it seems the third time is the charm. Store had a new 32GB WiFi to replace mine. We went into the bathroom in back to check (at the genius's suggestion). New one is good. VAST improvement over models 1 and 2... really annoying. Best of luck to all with the issue. Keep trying until you get a satisfactory iPad2. I guess the phone support girl was telling the truth! 🙂

Thanks for your experience chotty...it looks as though things are looking up.

I would advise anyone else who gets a "good" one any time soon to let us know!

However -- what about all the people who got bad ones and don't really know it?

Their support has basically confirmed there was a design flaw and it's been fixed...Is apple going to alert the public about this? Doubt it.

Shady indeed.

Well, I just got the return Fedex box. Apple just wanted the iPad so I reboxed it and brought it back to Fedex.

I hope they don't send me a refurb!! I wonder if they will repair and send back mine or just send a new one?

NM

They usually send you a replacement from replacement stock. The only difference I've found between replacement stock and retail stock is the different serial number ranges (they go by a different letter in the serial number). I don't believe that the replacement units are any different from the retail units apart from different serial numbering. They can't be refurbs or else they would have the same retail serial numbering. My guess is that the assembly plant actually have replacement unit runs alongside retail unit runs.

As for my iPad 2 which I received on April 21st, it has the screen edge blooming problem (aka light leakage even though that's technically not what it is). Judging from that, I would assume the problem still persists and Apple/Foxconn has not resolved the manufacturing issue yet. I'm awaiting for the Apple store to get replacements in as my unit has significant backlight bleeding. I think that the term for this screen defect should be changed because it's not actually a backlight leak, the problem is due to there being too much pressure being placed on the edges of the LCD (if you press down on the center of the iPad 2 screen, you will get whatever area you are pressing down to exhibit the yellow colour, this happens with any LCD when pressure is placed on it such as LCD TV's and monitors). All the corners on my iPad 2 shows this yellowing but they are quite mild so the corners are not really much of a problem, now, the lower right corner along the verticle side of that corner, it's quite excessive as the yellowing blooms out about an inch and a quarter or so. Apple needs to have the assembly plant readjust the machines that bonds the outside glass element to the LCD because the machines that does this right now are obviously placing way too much pressure on it while bonding the glass element to the LCD.

Good to hear that some units are now coming without the light bleed 'app' , I like most were optimistic about all of this, got my ipad 2 and was shocked to get one with bleed, genuinly. I'm a photographer by trade so I like my pics to have no distractions when viewing images etc so I couldnt have this level of bleed, it's a huge shame.

I just don't get why these were allowed past QA when they're clearly imperfect, this is apple were talking about, not some rubbish chinese 'eye-pad' rip off!

If it's not sorted within the next 2 weeks im not so sure i will get the ipad 2, i will look into other options.

Agreed...and Apple should compensate everyone who already bought an iPad with either a free repair or a brand new one. I'm going to wait a month and see what happens -- if the issue is in fact resolved, and they don't say anything, then i'm going to a lawfirm in NY and filing a class action suit.

My final update...

I just returned by 4th ipad2. First 3 had light leakage, 4th had no leakage, but dead pixels.

Went into the store, and the 5th one had even more dead pixels. It was at this point the manager said, "Look, you have to expect these things to happen. Perhaps you need something like a computer."

HAHAHA... I never got upset, not once, during my mutliple trips to the apple store for this issue. But for this guy to tell me I should expect defects and live with it, or maybe my picky personality needs a computer (of which I have 2 macbook pros and a Lenovo) I lost it. After arguing with him, he went back and got one more (he also told me they had no more).

After 6, SIX ipad 2s, this one finally is right. No dead pixels, no light leakage. Ok, on 100% brightness, you can see it faintly, but I was worried about the abitlity to see it in a moderately lit room at 50%. This one was a-ok.

I have to say after all this, Apple has really left a bad taste in my mouth. I'll probably fork over a ton of cash for the latest and greatest, but I'll be sure to not be an early adopter next time.

You should've seen the iPad 1. I went through 4 of them the first month before I gave up. The problem there was that ALL the iPads for the first few months had an uneven screen so you would end up with one segment of the screen being slightly yellow. For most things, this isn't a problem, the problem comes when trying to real books on the thing and having black text on white. The text would appear fuzzy in the slightly yellow zone. I gave up after the 4th unit. My Nintendo 3DS, I went through 3 of those as well. This is just the facts of life for an early adopter.

I think the problem is still out there. I just went to the Regent Street store where they had received a shipment in the morning, I checked 2 of them in store and they both had the problem, you could even see it under the bright store lights. I took a 3rd home and that has it too. This is now my 6th iPad 2, I have a genius appointment booked for tomorrow, so hopefully they can swap it out with another unit. While in the store, I asked the guy serving me if that had heard of this problem before and the guy said mine was the first case he had heard off! I find this pretty hard to believe as he didn't even bother looking at the screen, he just went to the back and got me a new box.

That's actually my impression of the current situation as well. I'm just hoping to get a replacement with minimal screen blotching (my iPad 2 has it appear moderately on all the edges but it's like a blister on the lower right corner which is about an inch and a half or so along the side and blisters out from the edge by an inch or so).

Mine reached Apple this morning and the current repair status says:

Product replacement pending.

I hope someone looked at it before sending it!!

I am waiting for my 4th Ipad 2 after returning the previous 3 for refunds due to the defective LCD. I feel like I am in a QC lab periodically checking the stock for Apple to determine any LCD defects....without any benefits. Apple stockholders are happy though...Hang in there everyone...More later.