Recent reports have shown that some new iMacs come with visible signs of a serious manufacturing defect: They have crooked displays. The defective models appear to have aligned mounting racks that cause the curvature.
While not every person who has bought a new iMac has stumbled across this problem, enough people have come forward to confirm that this is an Apple manufacturing defect.
YouTuber iPhonedo was the first to talk about it. While reviewing a recently released model, he found that it tilted to one side. As he explains in the video, he first tested this with a tie by folding it perpendicularly and placing it under one of the two ends of the computer. The length of the tie corresponded exactly to the distance between the surface of his desk and the iMac. While one side was 7.6 centimeters away from the desk, the other was 8 centimeters. A difference of 0.4 centimeters may seem insignificant, but that is certainly not how the product was designed.
The second customer encountering this problem came from another person in the Apple support community who measured a 1 mm difference between both sides of the display. The third complaint was made by Reddit user Synchronicity VII, who learned of the defect from an iPhonedo video and then confirmed his claim, saying,
“Checked mine after watching this video, and it’s crooked too. Not as crooked as his, but not completely flat either. My return period is over and I can’t waste my time not being able to work with the device for a month, but it’s a shame that Apple of all companies ships devices with such a glaring flaw.”
MacRumors’ videographer is another person who has witnessed this flaw. The orange iMac M1 that MacRumors ordered for review also reportedly had a crooked display. MacRumors claims that it didn’t pay attention to this defect at first, believing it was a desk issue. However, the number of other similar complaints has shown that the issue is within the company’s purview.
To add to the problem, this is not a user-fixable problem. There are seven screws that secure the iMac display to the mounting stand, and it seems that they are not easy to move.
Our only hope at this point is that Apple allows defective parts to be returned after a two-week return window. However, since the problem isn’t a big one at the moment, we’re not sure Apple will cooperate and change its return policy for a handful of defective devices. Apparently this problem is not widespread yet, but those planning to purchase an M1 iMac should be sure to test the display for two weeks and return it as soon as a problem is discovered.
