Can We Expect to ‘Jelly Scrolling’ Issue to be Fixed in iPad Mini 7?
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Since the release of the sixth-generation iPad mini, users have complained about screen tearing when scrolling through content — a phenomenon popularly referred to by many as “jelly scrolling.” It appears that Apple has listened to those complaints and made changes in the display hardware of the recently announced seventh-generation iPad mini that will hopefully address this issue.
Soon after the iPad mini 6 was released in September 2021, some users complained that their iPad mini’s text appeared slightly uneven while scrolling in portrait orientation on the device. The text on the left side of the screen would appear to lag slightly behind the text on the right side while scrolling. This made the text or images appear tilted downward due to a screen refresh rate mismatch, and once users noticed the problem, it was hard for them to ignore. While some users were not bothered by it, others claimed it was irritating to look at and could cause eye strain.
In February 2022, a Colorado man filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of fraudulent marketing and selling the sixth-generation iPad mini despite being aware of the device’s “jelly scrolling” defect. An Apple spokesperson said in late September 2021 that the effect is normal with LCD screens. iFixit also said that the effect is common on LCD screens.
The well-known repair company also said that the effect may be more noticeable on the sixth-generation iPad mini because Apple mounted the display’s controller board vertically inside the device rather than horizontally like in other iPad models.
On the most recent episode of the Six Colors Podcast (via MacRumors), Jason Snell and Dan Moren shared some information about the new iPad mini 7, including details on the new small tablet’s display. Snell noted that Apple has made unspecified alterations to the iPad mini 7’s display hardware to fix the jelly scrolling issue.
While Snell did not name a specific source, he likely received his information from someone inside of Apple. Snell did make it clear that there had only been an “implication” that the fixes were made, as no one has yet gotten their hands on an iPad mini 7, so there isn’t any concrete information about a possible fix yet available. “My guess is it’s different,” he said. “And maybe better. And maybe gone.”
While not all iPad mini 6 units were affected by the issue, the level of impact varied from user to user. While prior iPads may have also been affected by the problem, the issue seemed more noticeable to iPad mini 6 users.
Before the announcement of the new iPad mini 7, there were rumors that Apple would rotate the screen assembly to resolve the jelly scrolling problem, so it is possible that Apple has made moves to minimize the issue with the seventh-generation model of the smaller tablet.
The iPad mini 7 is currently available for pre-order and will begin being delivered to customers and hit store shelves on Wednesday, October 23. Once the new tablet is in users’ hands, we’ll likely soon learn whether the jelly scrolling issue has been fixed. Plus, it’s almost guaranteed that iFixit will perform the teardown voodoo they do so well, and we’ll find out what changes Apple may have made in the new mini tablet.
