iPad Pro screen unresponsive

Here’s my hypothesis H4: Its the touchscreen controller chip!

I looked up a teardown:

https://de.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad+Pro+11-Inch+Teardown/115457

And it says an interesting detail:

2x Broadcom BCM15900B0KWFBG Touchscreen-Controller

There are two of them!

In my mind that makes a correlation with the observation that usually halve the screen is affected.

The two chips are fighting or so.

We are homing in ...

Your theories sound laudible, but this does not explain how the issue is happening across all three years of iPad Pro models.

No one here was having touch screen issues until iOS 12.

My own 2015 iPad Pro is having no hardware/touchscreen issues still running on iOS 10.3.3.

So, how do you explain this condition happening across 3-years of iPad Pro models that were all fine prior to iOS 12?

This all happened to many iPad Pro models across all the years of models AFTER iOS 12 was installed.

This appears to be an iOS 12 code issue, not hardware.

With each hypothesis, you'd need to provide feedback via the iPad Feedback link. The engineers are not reading these threads for engineering ideas/solutions. The only Apple employees here are the Forum Specialists who, as you've come to know and love, moderate posts which they feel violate the Terms of Use.

You could be very effective if when you think you have something, use this link: Feedback - iPad - Apple

The more who use the link, which does go to people who need to know about issues, the more likely it will be paid attention to.

More data. As we suspected, there are multiple root causes leading to the same issue.

Since the pencil was unpaired, the issue only came back once today and only briefly when the ipad pro overheated a lot. Namely, i went to the purchased tab in the apple store and installed 140 apps at once from (not on this ipad) many of them games, some big ones that are 5-40 GB in size. As the temperature in the back of the ipad rose it became more touch unresponsive, and as the temp went down, it became responsive again. This was all in an air conditioned room.

It's worth noting, it's difficult to get the ipad this hot most of the time. i would have to play civilization 6 on a large map with lots of countries. Also, worth noting, that when the issue was being caused by the missing pencil, there was no heat involved.

I expect the ipad pro 2018 is easier to overheat due to the increased thinness, smaller bezel, and faster cpu.

That said this scenario should be very easy to reproduce provided the apple engineers have access to big apps. i'm not sure if it's the data transfer to the ssd or the cpu load on installing apps repeatedly. i think it's the former.

Additionally note that i'm using the 1tb model which may possibly generate more heat in thin compact packaging.

If the heat issue is THAT bad, I would go and get another iPad Pro replacement now instead of later.

That iPad Pro could have some sort of thermal failure if it is getting that hot.

And that kind of heat is NOT good for the Li-ion battery, either!

Is your iPad Pro getting hot because you use it while it is being charged up?

This is not a good idea to do, either, as both the Apple power block AND the iPad/iPad battery can get hot because it is trying charge up the battery while still intensively using the device.

On the bottom view of the logic board I see that there is a black cover over most of the area, probably EMI shielding, but below the touchscreen controller I can see the vias of the PCP apparently i.e. no shielding.

It has been observed that the 9.7” iPad pro is not affected by the issue.

Let’s have a look at the teardown: https://de.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad+Pro+97-Inch+Teardown/60939

In step 11 I see no power components near the touchscreen controllers and I see a good shielding there.

In the 2015 iPad pro the situation was different:

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad+Pro+12.9-Inch+Teardown/52599

The touchscreen controllers are not part of the logic board, but mounted near the display.

A metal shielding apparently was removed by iFixit.

iPad pro 10.5”: Similar to 11”

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad+Pro+10.5-Inch+Teardown/92534

iPad Air 3: Similar to 11”

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad+Air+3+Teardown/121759

Here goes my theory again ...

If the root cause is “visible” then I do not see the difference between iPad pro 11” and iPad Air3, unfortunately.

The third gen models still have this issue, too, with the ONLY caveat being there is a temporary fix to solve the touch issues, such as to temporarily turn OFF the Tap to Wake feature and restarting the iPad, whereas, the older model iPad Pros, that still use the Home button, have no such feature to turn off temporarily.

The issue still exists for 2018 iPad Pro users.

At one point, there were 50 open discussions of this over nearly the entire year that the ASC moderators froze or closed down after 6-8 weeks.

We are down to about 4-5 really active discussions and only about 10-20 new/current posts open with very little activity to date.

There is one of these iPad Pro new touch screen posts or replies to current posts every single day.

In addition, it is a new model year and there is the possibility that new iPad Pro models might be coming late in the Fall of 2019, like they do every year.

I have been experiencing this problem on my iPad and it continued through 13.1. I am now on 13.2.3 and I no longer have the problem.

Of course, it might come back -- wouldn't be the first change that appeared to make this problem go away. But for now, it appears that whatever apple did, they fixed it.

Per my comments above, I've swapped mine out twice; but there is no indication the problem will not recur.

Go trade it in. That's all you can do at the moment.

See my long reply and feedback and contact links on page 1.

Leave feedback with Apple and contact them in California, via the contact link I supplied.

I am more convinced than ever that this is an iOS 12 problem as this is happening across all three years of iPad Pro models.

Not just the new 2018 iPad Pro models.

Again, do not tell me what to do or post.

As long as I am within the terms of use of these communities, anyone, including me can post what they wish as long as it is within the scope of a posting.

Just because iOS 12.2 didn't solve this iPad Pro touch screen issue, for all of the affected users posting that have been posting here, does not mean Apple is not still working on a fix.

As long as everyone continues to post feedback and continues to call Apple in Cupertino, CA about this touch screen issue, Apple will keep being alerted to this bug/issue/problem.

That is my continued advice to all affected iPad Pro users with this unresponsive touch screen issue.

Apple employees do not read these communities and I am just a user here, so bickering and complaining here does not let Apple know that this is has still NOT been fixed.

There is NO other fix or solution coming from Apple, as yet, and no indication that such a fix exists, or not, in the up and coming iOS 12.3 uodate release.

Call Apple and keep sending feedback to Apple through the iPad product feedback page.

Traveling this week and I haven’t had any lockup’s on my iPad this week. Two things are different

1. I upgraded to 12.3
2. I left my pencil at home

i guess I’ll see if it starts happening again when I get near my pencil again.

12.3 update appears to have fixed my iPad Pro 12.9 2018 so far. My 2017 iPad Pro 12.9 worked perfectly after the update for around 4 hours of browsing and then reverted back to the intermittent fault.

I’ve never had the pencil or any screen protectors. I bought my iPad the day after they came out. After much trying to fix it Apple eventually exchanged for a new one about 2 months ago. Haven’t had a single problem since. Hope this helps.