By Julie Clover
One of the top complaints about the previous-generation iPad mini 6 was “jelly scrolling,” or screen tearing, and it looks like that’s an issue Apple may have addressed with hardware updates to the iPad mini 7’s display.
On the latest episode of the Six Colors podcast, Jason Snell and Dan Moren discussed the new iPad mini 7 and shared some information about the display. Snell said he believes there have been unspecified changes to the iPad mini 7 display hardware. This should make a difference when it comes to jelly scrolling.
Snell didn't provide a source, but his information likely comes directly from Apple. However, there's only an “implied” that the changes were aimed at fixing jelly scrolling, and Snell made it clear that since no one has seen the iPad mini 7 yet, there's no concrete information. “My guess is it's different,” he said. “And maybe better. And maybe gone.”
Jelly scrolling is a display issue that causes text or images on one side of the display to be out of sync with the other side. The result is that text or images can appear to be slanted downward due to the screen's refresh rate mismatch, and for some people, once you notice the issue, it can be hard to ignore.
iPad mini 6 owners began noticing a jelly-like scrolling effect in portrait mode on the device shortly after its launch in 2021. Some users were unbothered by the effect, while others said it was unpleasant to look at and could cause eye strain.
Most, if not all, iPad mini 6 devices appeared to be affected, but the extent of the impact varied from user to user due to different tolerances for screen tearing. The effect likely affected previous iPads, but it was more noticeable on the iPad mini 6.
iPad mini 7 There have been rumors that Apple will rotate the screen assembly to reduce jelly scrolling, so perhaps Apple has done something similar to minimize the issue in the seventh-generation model.
The iPad mini 7 is available for pre-order now and is set to launch on Wednesday, October 23. Once the tablet is available, users will be able to see for themselves whether the jelly scrolling issue has been resolved, and iFixit's teardown will provide insight into any hardware changes. We'll also likely get reviews of the iPad mini 7 models before they launch, so we'll be able to get a more definitive answer to the jelly scrolling question in a few days.
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