Q: Is anybody else getting a yellowish hue on their new iPad?

As a long time (22 years) user of Apple products, I am dismayed to see that Apple's lauded quality control seems to be slipping since the advent of the iPad 2. There were hardly any complaints with the original iPad regarding screen issues, but with the iPad 2 there was a widespread problem with light bleed. Perhaps because this issue was not exposed in the mainstream press and media, Apple seems not to have taken it seriously and are now foisting iPad 3’s with defective screens on the public. Just because most customers do not complain (except the few hundred on this and other forums) is no excuse for Apple to pass off screens with obvious colour patches etc. Screens with such defects can easily be rejected during the manufacturing process. Here I would like to note that I do not agree, as some members here believe, that these screen issues are not pervasive. The fact that many members here have exchanged six or more iPads and have still not got a acceptable screen is evidence to the fact that this is a widespread problem. Unless this issue is exposed in the mainstream press and media, I don't think Apple will take measures to solve it. Although I do hate to see Apple receive negative press, unfortunately they do seem to need a wake-up call this time...

My understanding is that the screen is NOT glued to the glass, like it is on the phones.  The glass is glued around the perimeter, but not directly to the screen.

See step 29 here: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad-Wi-Fi-Teardown/2183/4

Hi iDave,

If you have a hole in your sock, no one will notice and, if they do, they might not care but you will and you probably will not like it!! As long as I see the yellow hue I will not be comfortable with it - whites are yellow and greys are browns! Furthermore, I deal with professionals that work with colour. They tend to be exact when specifying or analyzing colours – they will specify Pantone 322C and will not want 321C or 323C (which are close) so they will definitely notice.

No one review or forum says “the majority of Ipads”, but judging

• by the amount of web pages/sites that discuss and or mention this issue and confirm the yellow tint

and

• by the number of people that have returned their ipads because of this and have received new ones with the same problem (in some cases they exchanged 2,3,4 or more times)

I can only conclude that they are the majority. I find it difficult to think otherwise.

Although I have spent significantly more time on this,  I suggest you Google it and spend 10 or 15 minutes on the web looking it up. You will find dozens of pages with reviews, movies and forums on this.

As for it going away, I stick to what I initially wrote. In the comments that I read most of the people confirmed that the problem did not go away. Like your self, I can not speak for everyone else, I am only saying what I read. My new ipad for instance has a week and a half. I have “conditioned” it for 3 whole days at maximum brightness, with the white screen, etc. etc., I have days of very intense ipad use and it is as yellow as day one! The funny thing is, every day when I pick it up in the morning, the screen seems to be whiter than the day before. The problem is, when I compare it with other equipment I use, I realize that it isn’t!!!! In my case the screen isn’t getting whiter, this happens because I’m getting used to it and I don’t want to get used to wearing socks with holes in them!!!! ;-)

Regarding the senior member issue, no I did not check their join dates. In truth I didn’t have to! Most of the forums have visible to everyone, each member’s status level and some, the number of posts they made. No, I did not read each single post each member made but

• I did look through a few dozens of pages on various forums and after reading so many threads you have a very good perception of who is “pro Apple”. 

            and

• To spend so much time on Apple forums you must really love the product and normally, if you love something it's human nature to defend it.

I actually found two or three cases in which so called “senior members” accuse users of  “trolling” and being “nit-picky” after they state/discuss valid problems. You have to be truly biased to do that!

Lastly, I agree 100% with your last paragraph.

“I try to take what people post at face value. I think, though, that some people see reality different than most people, and believe what they want to believe.”

PS: For the record, here are a few photos (remember my ipad has been "conditioned" for 3 whole days and has had a few days of instense use):

My Ipad 3 vs. Ipad 2

My Ipad 3 vs. my Toshiba laptop (which it way too cyan/magenta)

My Ipad 3 vs. my Designer's PC screen (2 photos. One is badly focused but you see the difference)

On the Ipad 3 vs Ipad 2 photo, if you guessed that my ipad is the yellow one, you are absolutely right!!!!

I have had about 3 replacements issued thus far.  My wife's ipad and my origional were the two best.  Only my first had dead pixels in the middle, and hers has 3 dust particles under the glass.  The replacements have had backlight bleed under one very badly, glue coming out of the home button, dark spots and pink spots on opposite sides of the screen, and a hair under the glass. 

I get that the goal is to make as many as possible, but the coloring between the "new iPad" and the ipad 2 and iPhone 4s is terrible.  The new ipad has to have more LEDs to get it brighter and with it by my iphone or computer screen, it looks like someone rubbed butter all over the screen with its yellow hues. 

I'll keep trying until I get a good one as it is bound to happen.  But how many of these does one have to go through?

Paulo

your first pictures shows the iPad with a screenshot of your notebook. This quite does not resemble the as if the iPad show the real colour chart by itself. Download the chart to the ipad2 and make a comparison shot again.

However I can see your issue is as mine even after burning in the **** out of it. Greys are brown greys.

The iPad wont be an accurate panel for pantone discussions. These have to be done on a hardware calibrated device. There are panels out there which are great but it seems they are a small batch of them

The problem even seemed to be present even when the iPad 2 was introduced. Its a deja vu: https://discussions.apple.com/message/13228907#13228907

The same color rendering as for the new iPad.

It's still an issue with the iPad 2, over a year later.  After giving up on the new iPad, I bought an iPad 2.  I had to return the first one because the screen was very yellow and dingy.  The second one is perfect though.

It just leads me to believe that these types of things are non-issues to Apple.

Paulogomes2003 wrote:

"As long as I see the yellow hue I will not be comfortable with it"

That's a rational statement. Adding, as you did, that no one else might see what you see added nothing to your valid complaint, except to call into question if you weren't imaginng a problem. (As a photographer, I noticed an unacceptable yellow cast immediately on my new iPad, without comparing it to my iPad 2, and so did my non-photographer wife.)

"I can only conclude that they are the majority."

Then you have reached the wrong conclusion, which is based on an incomplete and biased sample.

"I suggest you Google it and spend 10 or 15 minutes on the web"

Typing in "iPad yellow tint," it took less than two pages to run out of 2012 links and start seeing the same issue from 2011. 

"In the comments that I read most of the people confirmed that the problem did not go away."

Except you can't tabulate comments from people who did have the problem go away and then didn't report back to let us. Any conclusion you make is therefore based on an invalid sample.

With your color chart, there is an obvious difference between your iPad 2 and your new iPad. One difference is that the white on the new iPad is a lot brighter - a lot whiter.  Colors - the reds, blues, ets., appear to be vibrant and true on your new iPad.

How we see color is highly dependent on context. So I wonder about the situation if it were reversed. If you got the iPad 2 with warmer colors, and the new iPad with cooler colors, would you make the reverse complaint, that the new iPad is too blue? Because, from your sample, above, the iPad 2 has grays that look blue.

I'll go back to an earlier comment I made. As you say, only you notice the warmer tones - the people you show your images to on your iPad don't, as you say, see the yellow cast. They don't see it, because it's not there, unless you compare it to your iPad 2.

You will be hard pressed to find congruity between displays that are not manufactured in exactly the same way. The iPad 2 and the new iPad are not the same displays. They won't look the same. Walk into a store that sells t.v.s and you'll see a similar situation: there are lots of differences between the displays. You buy the t.v. that fits your budget and looks the best to your eye.

My suggestion: stop comparing the iPad 2 to your new iPad and different displays. ;-)

Glass is made of many tinner layers glued together.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4225/the-ipad-2-review/13

The glass itself is not assembled this way, it's a composite, not sandwiched.

Oh, OK. So I must have got it wrong... LCDs are.

So, here are some pictures (three), taken tonight, of my iPad 3rd generation retina screen.

1. On the first picture, you may find the screen kind of uniform. This is a fullscreen neutral grey image. The left side is a bit warmer compared to the right side of the screen. But this doesn't seems dramatic from this image... right?

2. Now, this is a simple grey chart, but it display clearly the lack of uniformity of the panel. Just compare the top left area and the low right area (from 100% white to 4th grey level for example)... It should display the same colors, but it's clearly different. Botom right is colder, when top left is warmer. The screen is definiely not uniform, and far from that...

3. Another try, with a different grey chart. The tint difference is obvious here. Just compare the top left and bottom right chart (100% white to 50% grey). They are pretty different right?

If some of you can use these grey charts on their own iPad 3rd generation panel, it may help to get an idea of the problem. Just a recommandation when shouting these charts on your iPad:

- use a fixed white balance mode (to avoid differences between pictures...)

- lock exposition if you can (also to avoid differences between pictures...)

- lock focus...

Then we can get an idea!

And a last image. The direct comparison between top-left and bottom-right of my retina panel. Not sure we can call this uniform...

Every one I have seen has had problems with uniformity. Where are the grey charts located?

Is your screen really as green as those pictures make it look?

I've just get those charts from a Google search

You can get the ones I used here:

- First grey chart

- Second grey chart

- Another nice grey chart