The new iPad is just three days in the hands of excited Apple fans, but while the tablet has received overwhelmingly good reviews and sold three million units so far, there’s one ubiquitous problem users are reporting to Apple.
Apparently, the higher resolutions of the Retina display require a ton of power – so much so that a massive battery is contained in the iPad’s case in order to maintain Apple’s commitment to about 10 hours of battery life for the device. Even using the tablet for a few minutes, lots of customers are reporting that the iPad becomes very hot. Just how hot it gets depends on the user: some report that it’s just warm, while others claim it gets hot enough to become unusable or burn.
Reviewers have mentioned that the iPad grows warm, although none of them noted that the device became dangerously warm. But that’s not the worst off it: as some users are complaining, the iPad may shut itself down if it becomes too hot, making it impossible to use the device at all.
As The Huffington Post reports, if the new iPad grows too warm, it’ll lock itself and wait for the temperature to fall, rendering it unusable while displaying a message that reads, “iPad needs to cool down before you can use it.” Users have experienced the issue as well, some fairly frequently, but in general, most report that this is a problem that they didn’t experience with the iPad 2 at all.
Granted, Apple’s newest iPad model is basically fresh off the lines and brand new on Friday. Bugs with devices such as the iPad often get worked out after release, but this seems like a substantial one, especially for customers who live in warmer climates. A quick search of the Apple forums finds more than 100 comments on a help thread regarding iPad overheating issues, with more than 10,000 views already racked up. One user said that, when using an infrared thermometer, the iPad casing topped 117 degrees. High-power apps and games, such as Real Racing 2, seemed to be especially prone to heat issues. Another user suggested running the battery out completely, then charging it full, which seemed to help.
Apple reported today that some 3 million iPads had already been sold since the device was released on Friday. One analyst has pegged Apple at potentially selling better than 50 million of the devices this year, but that may be a problem if the overheating issue persists for many users.
