Why does my new air iPad smell

What does it smell like ? 😕

I would take it back to were you bought it, and get them to change it for a different one if the smell is bothering you.

I'm a computer tech and this week I helped a customer select and purchase a new iPad Air 2 to replace her worn out iPad 2. The Air is a beautiful piece of technology but around 15 hours after I finished setting it up and handed it over to its new owner, she called me to complain that the device had developed a noxious smell. The customer described the smell as being like formaldehyde or a similar chemical. Although some people she had asked to "sniff" her iPad didn't smell anything or only perceived a slight "new electronics" smell, my customer was overpowered by the odor and was unable to stay in the same room with her new iPad.

I smelled the device myself and, in fact, did detect a chemical odor that seemed to be coming from the vents just below the home button. I played audio files continuously on iPad for several hours and noted that it did not heat up and everything else about it, including battery power and consumption, seemed fine. The odor persisted, though, and while it didn't increase, it also didn't go away. I searched and searched on the internet for some possible cause for the problem but no luck.

Apple Care was no help either but I was glad the tech didn't laugh when I told him I had a stinky iPad. Within a couple of hours of returning the device for a replacement, I continued to ponder the problem: There had to be some hardware changes between the new iPad and the one my customer had been using for the past three years. It occurred to me that the "biggest" difference was the improved Gorilla glass used to construct the retina display. I always purchase the same brand of screen protector - ZAGG - InvisibleSHIELD HD - and had applied the protector to the iPad before delivering it to the customer.

I carefully peeled back the edge of the screen protector and put my nose to the area where the protector adhered to the iPad screen. I was overwhelmed by a strong chemical "nail polish" smell that seemed to have been trapped between the screen protector and the screen. The more of the protector I pulled away from the iPad screen, the stronger the smell became. Once I removed the screen protector completely, the smell continued to linger on the iPad. I took the screen protector into another room and noticed it seemed to become more noxious by the minute, as if I'd released some kind of demon. LOL.

I gently wiped the iPad with a very slightly dampened (water only) 100% cotton cloth and the chemical smell disappeared completely. By this point, the screen protector smelled so bad, it seemed about to burst into flame, so I enclosed it in a ziplock bag and threw it in the dumpster outside.

My conclusion: Some kind of very strange reaction occurred between the ZAGG screen protector and the iPad's Gorilla glass. I don't know if this will help anyone else, but if you've got a screen protector on your device and notice a chemical odor, maybe you ought to at least consider the screen protector. I have used and handled many, many Apple, Android and Windows devices and have never come across this situation before. I suppose there's some scientific explanation for it. I think I'm done using any type of screen protector on Apple devices at least.