Patent ID: 8750729

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image bearing member configured to bear an electrostatic latent image; a developing unit including a container that stores toner, a toner bearing member configured to bear the toner and to develop the electrostatic latent image with the toner, and a toner supply member located, inside the container, in contact with the toner bearing member, the toner supply member having a foamed layer on its surface and being configured to rotate in a predetermined direction during image formation to supply the toner to the toner bearing member, wherein, of the contact region with the toner bearing member, an uppermost stream position in the predetermined direction is higher than a lowermost stream position; and a detecting unit configured to detect whether the developing unit is new, wherein if the detecting unit detects that the developing unit is new, the toner supply member rotates in a reverse direction to the predetermined direction before a first image formation by the developing unit.