Ipad Air yellow screen tint on left hand side?

That is something I have been wondering too about Apple recognizing this as a problem - and if all of the yellow screen rejected iPads opened up in apple stores and never used will be the iPads given as replacements when they do a swap for issues under warranty etc. God forbid I do all this work right now for a good screen and several months down the road there is an issue and being told by the Apple store that a yellow tinted replacement screen is within spec and OK. Unfortunately my history with iPads have been that dust somehow collects under the screen - perhaps shaken loose during months of normal use - and I have had to swap 2 previous iPads for that issue.

On a slightly different note: originally I had purchased a 32 wifi Air and during the process of exchanging because of the yellow tinted screens I had ended up upgrading to a 64 wifi and then ultimately a 64 LTE version. During those incremental upgrades the additional price was one to two hundred dollars or so and didn't seem like that much more. However, when I ended up getting a refund the total including the Smart Cover and AppleCare+ had come to over a thousand dollars. When I saw that amount on my receipt I thought to myself that I would have to be crazy paying that much money for an iPad with screens that looked as poorly as mine did and also the feeling of unhappiness that I felt about my purchase. My expectation - and I think what Apple would like - is that people feel Happy about the purchase they have made and that while their products may be expensive the customer feels satisfied with their product and they enjoy using it.

I ordered mine from John Lewis last Friday. The screen is still very yellow like a sepia tinted old photograph. I have now contacted apple and they tested it and it's not a software issue. I think I could have guessed that myself but you never know. Because I didn't get it directly from them I had to contact John Lewis who are now sold out of the iPad air. I can't just ask for my money back because I got it at the Black Friday price, so I'd have to pay full price for a replacement in another shop. So I'm stuck waiting for them to restock. The can't even tell me when that will be. One more thing that at least proves it's the screen is when I connected the ipad to my television the display was perfect not a trace of yellow. It looked lovely. What a pity it's not on the device itself.

David - my two yellow one's came from JL actually. Maybe they've had a faulty batch which is now why they are out of stock? The one that came with the screen which is perfect was from Tesco Direct with £30 off last night, the same price as JL. The £30 discount is valid until 23 December I think..

Mine (perfect screen) DMTLJ has production week: 41 (October) from the DM (China - Foxconn) factory. Another one (with yellow tint) that I tested has DVHLQ serial, and production week: 47 (November) from the DV (Brazil Jundial Sao Paulo - Foxconn or Foxconn Vietnam) factory, which leads me to think that the latest production of iPads does not solved the problem, and it is not the first batch issue only. I think it is a lottery, because the third one, the DMPLJ from the same week as mine (41) and DM (China - Foxconn) factory, has the same yellow tint issue.

Finally went to best buy and got an exchange. The guy at the counter didn't see what I was talking about but I was insistent there was clearly a dim edge on the left. Also there was a pretty ****** color shift, warm temp on the left and cool on the right. Very obvious on a white screen all blank safari tab. Anyway he told me to grab another one so I did and we opened it up. Sure enough same ****, color warm on one inside and cool on the other and stil the "book spine" effect on the left.

So after some back and forth he called over his supervisor and she took a look at mine. I pointed out the shadow on the edge and she immediately noticed it , but she noticed the color difference ("gradient" as she put it). Anyway she told him to grab a coule of airs from inventory and he came back with like 6 boxes. I opened the first one and it was immediately clear that it was better than mine was. There's still a slight dimming on left edge and a slight color shift but no where near as bad as my original air.

I did compare it to a few others but all over them expect one had bad color shifts/ shadow. There must be a bad batch of Airs that were calibrated or assembled right. Serial numbers don't mean much as far as far as getting one with a perfect screen. The old one started with DLMPF while my exchange is DLMPG. Anyway I hope this is it as far as returns and exchanges.

Some people don't even notice if there's a problem, while others will accept nothing except a "perfect" display, whatever that is. Many in this subforum simply want an excellent display: evenly colored, no yellow strips, no missing pixels - the kind of display you expect from Apple.

Personally, I'd keep exchanging units until you find a defect-free one, or one that's close to it. But if past history is a guide, there's no guarantee that future batches will be free from faults.

On the left iPad we can see clearly through the picture that we are going from something more yellow or less bright (i.e. left screen area) to something more cooler or brither on the right side.

Although the iPad Air on the right looks much better I can't see with the pic if the screen is perfect. I mean if I take a pic of my iPad screen I can't see the issue but when looking directly to the screen I can see that the right side is brighter even though there is no yellow issue / book spin issues. This issue is difficult to be captured with a pic but you don't have maybe this on you new one.

Anyway thank you for sharing the pic and no doubt that your new iPad Air is much much better.

Here's a thread about the Samsung S4 which reads a bit like this one:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/304256-s4-screen-uniformity-i ssues.html

Apparently, screen uniformity issues are common with LED edge-lit screens, and the thinner the display the more likely there will be issues. Here's a good basic explanation:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20088479-1/is-lcd-and-led-lcd-hdtv-uniformit y-a-problem/

Personally, I don't see any reason to think these uniformity issues will be solved "after Christmas" or with the "iPad Air 2". So I think the best idea is to be patient and keep trying to get a good one. Maybe call Apple and let them know - maybe they'll devise an effective replacement procedure for more sensitive customers.

I'm an iPad Air owner and a picky iPhone owner who went through several to get the right colored screen.

There are real issues in many screens. However, finepiks is absolutely right that there are optical issues as well--there are well known, well-researched perception issues involving colors, white sheets, changes in colors that are in the eye-brain and not in the "real world".

I've had this with the infamous yellow-creme vs. bluish-white screens. I prefer the bluish ones, though I recognize the yellow-hued ones show photos better. However, give me several hours with a creme-tinted one and the bluish ones no longer look blue-white, but a garish blue.

The random reader of such threads could easily look at a white screen on his or her iPad or iPhone and see greyish banding due to optical effects and think there's a serious problem.

I have no dog in this hunt, but finepiks was not dismissing everyone, or saying there weren't real problems. He was just offering another perspective on the matter--and quite fairly I might add compared to the bombast, smug, arrogant trolling we see on the net.

Again, to retierate-- this not to say that there are not real serious yellowish tints, splotchy problems--or even the dark stripe, dark corner banding issues. There are and there are quality control issues that need fixing.

AstroMacMan, you are commended for wanting to take a balanced approach. Unfortunately, the yellow gradient and bookspine effect are as real as people are saying here.

I only saw these issues at first because I was reading on a website where the text went to the very edge of the display. I noticed the bookspine effect at that point and started comparing it to the other edge by rotating the Air, which is when I saw the yellow gradient.

It's amazing what our brains decide to see, and unfortunate how hard it is to ignore what we're able to see.

iPad Air I bought a few weeks ago has pinkish tone to top 25% of screen. It's very slight but there. Was able to notice it even more in Kindle reading app with sepia tone. Bottom 75% of screen is definitely whiter.

Went yesterday to the Apple Store to see if I'm lucky swapping with a perfect screen (32gb, Wifi only, Silver) expecting that new batch came out:

. 1st tentative, the iPad Air screen was yellowish in comparaison with mine witch clearly a left side less brighter. The serial was starting with DMRL supposed to be good (according to previous posts) - for information I've asked to get DLXLR, DMTLJ or DMRL because of the good feedback from previous posts... And this was the only iPad there matching with one those serial.

. 2nd tentative, the iPad Air screen was still more yellow than my current one. I don't recall the Serial because it was not starting with one of the three above supposed to be "good"... The screen was very close to the other one above.

In each case the Apple sales assistant confirmed me that the screens of the proposed iPad Air were yellowish... Especially when they were close to mine (blueish/cooler) side by side but mine still not perfect for me.

At the end I spent 1hr on site for nothing and for sure the Serial Number means nothing since I picked at least one supposed to be good without success...

(I did the same post in MacRumors...)

You're probably right, serial numbers may not have anything to do with it. We just have to deal with it I guess. The current ipad air I have has slightly brighter right half than left, but perfect color uniformity. Slight backlight bleed too but even my MacBook retina has slight bleed. I would rather have the bleed and the brightness difference that I rarely ever notice unless I'm hunting for it than the yellow colored left half. Even the book spine on this one is significantly less pronounced than my first. I hate that this is how it is but I am not going to risk another replacement and get a worse one. Not going to play roulette. We shouldn't have to be playing roulette. But there's nothing we can do except wait and cross our fingers for an eventual fix. Worst case scenario we sell our airs in a year and get the next ipad. Who knows if that'll be any better though. Unless apple moves toward OLED displays I don't see this getting fixed.

Thanks for those who replied to my previous post regarding a question whether I should exchange or return defect iPads. A "genius" guy at Apple store agreed to replace iPad mini retina because yellow tint near the home button was so obvious. He however refused to do so for iPad Air because it's faulty display (same yellow tint but less distinctive) wasn't bad enough for him. I'm planing on returning iPad Air this week. I'm debating whether I should buy it now or wait until early next year.

I've purchased variety of Apple products such as Macs, iPhones, iPads, and many peripherals but I've never had to exchange so many times before. I'm frustrated and exhausted.

RedBrown, spending our own time and money to repeatedly travel to Apple Stores without any definite hope of getting a decent replacement is rightly frustrating! It appears that the display manufacturing requirements for these thin iPads is proving to be a challenge, but Apple really should have some sort of a return/replacement solution for more discerning customers. Just because many customers won't notice these problems is not reason to not provide a solution to those that do.