How common are these problems with iPad Air 2?

I bought an Air 2 for a present for my family after researching it and deciding it was worth the extra cost over the original Air. Then, started reading about problems with the screen showing finger tip "ghosting" when pressed from the back (some YouTube videos were so bad you could see the marks from simply holding it). Other reported problem was a random popping noise, as if from a static discharge.

I looked at the demos of the Air and Air 2 at Best Buy for about 15 minutes, and the finger tip ghosting on the Air 2 was definitely there, but somewhat minimal, and didn't hear any of the random popping during the short time I played with them. I also looked at the Air 2 at Costco, and again, no popping, and it was almost impossible to duplicate the finger tip screen ghosting.

People over at the Apple forum have a 28 page thread going about the popping issue. Some have returned theirs two and three times, and still have ones with the issue, some never get it at all.

I have to decide which one to keep, and don't want to end up stuck with a defective Air 2 if this is a common thing. I know most of the forum posts are by people with a problem, and all the people with defect free iPads don't say anything, but what's been your guys experience? Did the original Air have similar growing pains a couple months after it was released, or is the Air 2 more of a lemon? Has anyone with the problem gotten Apple to repair it?
Thanks!

Hi Lefty... - welcome to the forum!

Early this month, I replaced my aging iPad 2 w/ the Air 2, so about 3 weeks on the new device - I've read a lot of books and magazines; also, play music mainly to BT headphones & a portable speaker; don't do many videos. I've not experienced the issues you describe.

I'm also a member of the iPad Forums which has over 300K members, and have participated in a number of threads on the iPad Air 2 - off hand, I cannot remember this being a topic of discussion; you might want to take a look there to helped ease your mind or make a decision - most seem to be quite happy w/ this newest model. Dave

RadDave said:

Hi Lefty... - welcome to the forum!

Early this month, I replaced my aging iPad 2 w/ the Air 2, so about 3 weeks on the new device - I've read a lot of books and magazines; also, play music mainly to BT headphones & a portable speaker; don't do many videos. I've not experienced the issues you describe.

I'm also a member of the iPad Forums which has over 300K members, and have participated in a number of threads on the iPad Air 2 - off hand, I cannot remember this being a topic of discussion; you might want to take a look there to helped ease your mind or make a decision - most seem to be quite happy w/ this newest model. Dave

Click to expand...

Thanks Dave,
Glad to hear that,. The place I read the most Air 2 problems was Apple's own Community Forum/iPad/Using iPad, but it can be difficult to tell if that is a distilled microcosm that is mostly filled with the people with problems, or if this is widespread. I'd guess Apple's site gets more traffic than iPad Forums, but I couldn't really find anything over there about the issues which is a good sign;-)..

Why in the name of all that's sensible would anyone ever press hard enough on the back of an iPad Air 2 to "create" this effect?!

This reminds me of that whole "bending" iPhone 6 nonsense -- you have to try incredibly hard to accomplish it ... And you win ... A broken iPhone! Nice job!

Some days, I think I'm alone in the world in thinking that $500+ devices should be treated with care ...

chas_m said:

Why in the name of all that's sensible would anyone ever press hard enough on the back of an iPad Air 2 to "create" this effect?!

This reminds me of that whole "bending" iPhone 6 nonsense -- you have to try incredibly hard to accomplish it ... And you win ... A broken iPhone! Nice job!

Some days, I think I'm alone in the world in thinking that $500+ devices should be treated with care ...

Click to expand...

Kind of why I asked the question. Some of the videos posted though, made it look like the pressure from your fingertips on the back from simply holding the Air 2 caused it. The Best Buy floor model was not that bad, but the ghosting wasn't as hard to duplicate as you might think, and made me question how well the internals of the new Air 2 are insulated, especially when you throw in the random popping sounds.

It's all moot now as we opened the Air 2 on Christmas and have a tablet that is more like the floor model at Costco, which is difficult to get any ghosting to show up on, and has not popped once (knocking on wood). The sound vibration through the shell is my only complaint, but that I definitely knew would be part of the design as all floor models had it and it's not a deal breaker. The flip side of that is the sound is clearer to my 51 year old ears than that of the original Air.