Very grainy 2018 macbook air facetime camera

Hi there - I have been in the business of supporting one of the world's largest Banks with one of the largest deployments of internal video collaboration over 40,000 video endpoints. I have used & abused multiple PC, MAC, Linux, Mobile & Tablets in optimising internal Video Conferencing and Video Chat with Customers. Internal guides to optimise the lighting conditions, optimal camera height and configurations and extensive testing of all of the USB Webcams in the last 8+ years. These are the baselines of my credentials....

My 4 day old 2020 Macbook Air 13" is brilliant...but i went to do a Video Call and I was gobsmacked at how poor the quality was. This is not my subjective opinion, as many of you have demonstrated, and I was told by Apple Support have said this is "EXPECTED BEHAVIOUR." I am very upset, as I checked and knew it was the "720p FaceTime HD camera" so was not expecting broadcast quality. I was expecting similar performance to 7yr old 2013 MacBook Air I was replacing  - in the same way you'd expect relatively similar performance if you changed a 7yr old car...maybe a little quicker, but not 50-70% slower!

I have conducted a x3 way video conference call on Zoom and recorded it to show the comparative quality between a 2020 MacBook Air, 2013 MacBook Air and an iPhone XR. You need to view in full screen. The video quadrants  are labelled with device names, but its clear quickly which is the newest device.  https://vimeo.com/409222156

I am genuinely at a loss and sincerely hoping that this is a device driver setting/enhancement that is required...because, I cannot seriously consider that someone at Apple has intentionally chosen the piece of 5hit camera if it is hardware related...

I just bought a new MacBook Air 2020 with a 512gb hard drive to replace my 2013 MacBook Air. The main reason was that I do a fair bit of filming for online tutorials and the small hard drive in my old MacBook was so full of system files, I was no longer able to store any large files. The camera on my old MacBook was fine but this new one was shockingly bad. I jumped through the hoops with Apple support over the phone (as the Genius bar is closed due to Covid 19) and wiped the hard drive and reinstalled the operating system twice - costing me two valuable days of work - and then had to take it to an authorised Apple dealer for them to agree there was a problem worth asking for Apple to send a replacement MacBook. I've received the replacement today and the camera is just as bad. Same before and after pics as shown previously - ie: clear and sharp on the old MacBook and dull and grainy on the new one.

I'm so disappointed to read all of these replies showing a long standing issue and angry that I've been made to jump through hoops when the issue is clearly in the machine itself.

[Edited by Moderator]

I have some demonstrable differences between my 2013 and my 2020 MacBook Air - It's the same specification of camera I agree, but something is different in either the hardware or Driver. This is evident by two photos I just took, with significant additional digital noise in the brand-new laptop. I could live with it being 'as-crap' as the 2013 device, but not get significantly worse! Maybe things changed from 2014 onwards...either way, its significantly worse and utterly terrible in low light situations

Macbook 2013

Macbook Air 2020

I think if everyone gives their feedback about this to Apple, they might do something about it: https://www.apple.com/feedback/ Worth a try!

Hey everyone, just a note that there's another active thread about this too: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250011475?answerId=250432477022&page=1

I was researching a little bit in the International Consumer Protection:

https://www.icpen.org/resolve-dispute#cross-border-disputes

I think this needs to be taken outside of apple because they are simply giving different excuses about the problem. The last excuse from a store manager in Berlin, was that basically it's my fault for believing in fake advertising from apple and for not doing my research before buying.

In the meantime we can complain in the official apple feedback site although I doubt this helps: https://www.apple.com/feedback/

This feels completely unacceptable - like many others I use my laptop for virtual meetings and calls all the time, and was part of the reason why I updated my laptop to a 2018 MacBook Air. I can't believe they've released models that have such poor Facetime HD camera quality. Will go to the Apple store to see if they can do something.

I got 4 different replies from 4 different apple employees_

Version 1 from apple support: It's a bug but it will be fixed in the next update

Version 2 from a apple technician in a higher "status": It's a hardware issue, apple designed the computer on purpose with this horrible camera, Supposedly because is more sensitive to light and it should work properly if you are in a VERY bright environment with tons of natural light.

Version 3 from an apple store staff: It's a hardware issue, they admit the camera is very bad, nothing to do about it

Version 4 from an arrogant apple store manager: I'm stupid for buying that computer without checking reviews about the camera. It's our fault.

My conclusion is that apple somehow made the very stupid decision to lower the quality of the camera and advertise it as "HD". This is fake advertisement and they don't want to respond to it. No one is offering a solution.

I keep getting all of these complaints about the face time video on the new MacBook Air retina and related products. Can we just call a duck a duck? Its pairing with Quicktime and the resultant video quality is noticeably sub par. In a word - it sucks. If I had known this I would not have purchased this Mac. My 2013 MacBook Pro Retina had better resolution. and now with everyone working on Zoom or the other platforms, they must be seeing the issue. And this is not acceptable. I haven't heard or seen anything from Apple - what are they doing? They keep improving the iPhone and it seems the only money they are making on Macs is to introduce new models that require more accessories and adaptors. We need to take action.

I returned my already guys.I think this is best response to Apple.And we are making noise.See below article;

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/01/03/2018-macbook-air-facetime-camera/

MacBook Pro have same problem, because all Mac Books have same camera.

Apple removed huge thread about that issue. 1100+ people having that problem. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8627217

It is almost guaranteed to be hardware. No hope really...:( The only hope was recall, but that is not realistic either...

Also to illustrate the difference, here are screenshots taken in the Apple store with the Quicktime camera running on respective devices.

Macbook Air 2013:

MacBook Air 2018:

You’re wrong. I’ve got them sat here side by side and they are both bad. 2015 and 2019.