Malcolm Owen
The iPad mini 6 may have an issue with the way it refreshes the display while scrolling, with one side seemingly updating at a slightly different speed than the other, creating a "jelly" effect.
The iPad mini 6 introduced an updated display to the compact tablet design, but it appears to be undergoing some teething issues. On close inspection, it appears that there is a limited "jelly scrolling" problem with the tablet.
Highlighted by Dieter Bohn of The Verge on Twitter, the left-hand and right-hand sides of the screen are updating out of sync with each other, when used in a portrait orientation. The effect, which has occasionally cropped up in devices in the past, is especially noticeable in situations such as pages of text, or where large patterns across the entire screen move up and down.
Here is is slow-mo video of scrolling on the iPad Min i slowed down EVEN MORE in a frame-by-frame step through. Notice how the right moves up faster than the left.
— Dieter Bohn (@backlon) September 22, 2021
In normal usage you barely see it, but every now and then it become noticeable. In landscape it goes away entirely pic.twitter.com/iq9LGJzsDI
A video has been published showing the phenomena with a webpage scroll, with the right-hand side updating a hair before the left side. However, the video is in slow-motion to exaggerate the effect for demonstration purposes.
According to Bohn, the effect is barely observable, but does surface "every now and then." Furthermore, the issue doesn't manifest when using the iPad mini in a landscape orientation, meaning it only affects portrait usage.
While it is plausible that there could be a hardware problem with the display panel itself, it is also possible that Apple could create a software fix for a future iPadOS update to remedy the situation.
Apple has yet to comment on the iPad mini display discovery.
The iPad mini's scrolling is the latest touch interface issue to have surfaced for Apple. In May, users complained about the new Siri Remote for the Apple TV 4K, as a gesture for the circular trackpad was causing problems when attempting to scrub through media.
AppleInsider Staff
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
7 Comments
I have not noticed this on mine yet
Oh man that would drive me nuts lol.
They are holding it wrong... ;)
Umm. SW update will fixit
I stopped by an Apple Store and tested it out on eight minis that were on display and all of them have the wobble. I did have a genius appointment set up to address the issue but I knew after seeing that that it was nothing they could fix. Obviously no way to know if it’s a hardware or a software issue. Thinking about potentially returning the mini but I would say that they all have it. So to check you can go to photos and go to the vertical orientation and move it back-and-forth and you should see the wobble or a bowing effect. Now if you’re not looking for it you might not notice but it is there. So again in my opinion all minis have the wobble unless Apple uses different screens from different manufacturers.