2018 MacBook Air HD camera is in poor quality.

Welcome to the club. Many posts deleted for one reason or another. I noticed that certain words or phrases are automatically deleted... even if letters are spaced out.

On a corporate level I wonder if Apple are waiting until the start of the next financial year before they release an official response to this disappointment of what should be one of their best loved products. So they claimed in their hyped product announcement.

I noticed that there was a huge applause when Tim Cook announced that the new MBA was made from 100% recycled metal. Hopefully they are able to recycle all of the returned MBAs also...

What I do not really understand is why they do not care about the army of customers who instantly lost loyalty with this product (even if they can ignore all those returned devices). I could keep bringing them my money again and again for ages. But now there is a very good chance it is going to be my last macbook. And I am sure that scenario is the same for many many other people (statistically recognisable in their accounting). I totally do not get that attitude. Do they not care at all?... Mass frustration (66%, according to 9to5mac) over one of their key products. I cannot stop thinking I am missing something important about their business model ... (and if they do not care about Air, why bother upgrading it in the first place?)

It is very frustrating. I’ve been a loyal Mac user for many years until now. I keep coming back to this thread in the hope there is an answer, but nothing.

We have a on-line teaching home business and was hoping to get a laptop this year to claim against expenses. We waited for months for the rumored MBA and we’re thrilled that it came with the crisp HD camera. Until we experienced it... now I have to possibly spend way more on another Mac model or get a windows based machine. Went to bestbuy and discovered that a good embedded webcam is hard to find...

I remember the days when the terms iSight and FaceTime HD camera used to guarantee quality...

Ruskes your findings and questions still don't make sense to me.It's obvious something wrong with this camera.If a camera from 2011 Mac does better job than 2018 model Apple screwed something up.Period and end of question.We know what the problem is and waiting for Apple to address the issue.

Guys.You are wasting your time.There are some apple agents here trying to confuse people I guess..It’s the same no matter what app you use.Also there is nothing wrong with the Apps.I have tested them all with my external camera.Image quality real 720 HD and sharp like Apple claim for theirs.Its the crappy camera sensor that is terrible my guess.

I have an appointment on Wednesday to see what can I do. I really want the camera fixed, I love the air. If I have to upgrade to the pro I will but I heard that as well as the same issue. so i dont know what to do maybe return get my money back.

Hi Becky,

I am experiencing the same issue with my new laptop. I tried all of the three troubleshooting steps mentioned (New account, different apps to test the webcam, and under Applications > Utilities > Profile I can see my FaceTime HD camera Model ID and Unique ID).

The problem persists, how can it be solved?

I just purchased this computer as a gift for my daughter (not knowing the camera was an issue). She's experiencing the same terrible resolution/noise camera problem even in excellent lighting. The camera quality is FAR, far below her 6 year old MBP. What is going on and how come Apple is not owning up to this issue? Is there a fix coming or should she return the computer and explore other options?

Do you see the difference in the quality of two 720p photos I provided above? That is new and old Air. If you do see the difference - there is no need to explain anything further. If you don't ... well, there is no need either.

I do not care if you manage to convert that difference into numbers. People see that difference, that is what this topic is all about - the quality difference (even if it cannot easily be expressed with numbers).

1. That theory does not hold the water when it comes to two identical OS versions and Photobooth versions on two models making 720p photos. You still did not answer my question. Are you able to see the difference between my two photos or not?

Guys I bought my MacBook Air in Poland before Christmas... same crap! I needed an "upgrade" from my 5 years old MacBook Air and this is what I got? How do I suppose to attend serious video conference with this camera? COME ON Apple. I wait some little time and if they don't fix it I will consider changing it for Pro

****!

Looking at this tread made me think some Apple's technicians and engineers are so obsessed with numbers and parameters they forgot to actually turn on FaceTime and make some good old-school testing and just call people to see how it works.

It doesn't really take any special performance tools to evaluate the camera, you just turn it on and if you have an immediate feeling of travelling back in time to the nineties, yessss you have a problem.

Hey, I got my MacBook Air today and I have the same problem. When I opened Photo Booth, the camera looked so fuzzy and weird, but when I FaceTimed my friend, she said that the quality looked pretty good on her end. So I'm confused as to why this is happening with a brand new computer that is literally supposed to be so much better than the others.

Yes! I just bought mine and was surprised at how poor it is...like 5 steps back from before. Ran across your posting here, I am sure there will be more complaints coming soon. Its like 360p or 480p to be honest :(

This is so frustrating to read. I just recently bought the new MBA 18 and i didn't even think to check the camera. I just assumed it would be HD as advertised. I was so shocked when I facetimed my sister and we compared screenshots from her MBA16 and it was clearly better than mine. I should have done more research and read all these comments before but what a scam. Isn't there something that they should do about this? It's blatant false advertisement. they should take responsibility. Not everyone can just wait and buy a new one. My last computer was a mac book pro i got in 2010 and the camera is the same quality...To be honest i saved up for a while to get this MBA 18 and i'm pretty heartbroken that i wasted so much money on it.... I mean seriously with the price were paying they shouldn't be using such low quality cameras...