Wow, I thought specs were supposed to be consistent on devices like this.
Yeah it really boggles my mind that a company as big as Nintendo would let something like this happen without correcting it. Unfortunately, it seems this problem has existed since the first production run (at least for non-Japanese units I believe) and has never been officially acknowledged by them.
Apparently the TN screen also has a pretty big impact on the usability of the improved 3D as well, which is unfortunate. r/3DS has actually banned discussion of this topic because they decided it was going nowhere
. They actually created an entire subreddit devoted to this topic as a result, but it's pretty empty. Apparently most of the community that knows about this issue have decided to downplay it, but it bothers people when they pay the same as everyone else and have a fair chance of receiving an inferior product.
There's a ton of speculation about different styles, retailers, production runs, and even how the units are packaged for any indication of whether those affect the likelihood of getting an IPS one, but it seems there is no real supporting data for any of it.
It's kinda bumming me out because I don't really want to buy one if it'll just be a gamble. Some people have had luck with certain retailers allowing them to examine units in the stores to try and find an IPS one--but that seems to be a pretty hit and miss thing. I don't want to mess with buying and returning a bunch of units either... I mean, maybe I'm too concerned about this, but I feel like the whole situation is pretty weird. Some people have reported getting dual IPS displays--and also TN top and IPS bottom (often considered the worst).