'Jelly Scrolling' will be improved in iPad mini 7, claims leaker

An issue with LCD screen scrolling in an iPad mini in portrait orientation caused by Apple's engineering choices will be reduced, but not fixed, in the forthcoming iPad mini 7.

The jelly scrolling issue was spotted soon after the iPad mini 6 launched in 2021, and users' experiences were later borne out by a teardown that confirmed it as being caused by Apple's engineering choices.

Jelly scrolling is caused by a small refresh delay as the lines of a display are updated. It's common on certain screen types, though usually less noticeable, and it is typically only seen in portrait instead of landscape orientation because of how LCD controllers generally orientate refreshes on the long-axis, and when fast-scrolling.

Consequently, Apple dismissed the jelly scrolling as normal behavior. And equally consequently, Apple then got hit by a class-action lawsuit which to date has gone nowhere.

Now according to leaker "Instant Digital" on Chinese social media site Weibo, the issue has been improved. "Instant Digital" does not have a lengthy track record in Apple leaks, but it's also reasonable to expect that Apple would work to address the complaints.

"The mini has changed the direction of screen assembly," wrote the leaker (in translation) as spotted by MacRumors, "and the jelly screen phenomenon has been improved."

That change of screen assembly direction does fit with iFixit's supposition that the position of components is exacerbating the issue.

The leaker also says that "the front camera seems to have also been upgraded, but the specifics are not very clear." He or she then further claims that the iPad mini 7 will use the A16 Bionic processor, as used in the iPhone 14 Pro.

3 Comments

mayfly 385 comments · 1 Year

About 1 year ago

So if I buy an iPad Mini, I get a jelly scroll? Do I get a coffee to wash it down, too?

Marvin 15336 comments · 18 Years

AppleInsider said:
"The mini has changed the direction of screen assembly," wrote the leaker (in translation) as spotted by MacRumors, "and the jelly screen phenomenon has been improved."

That change of screen assembly direction does fit with iFixit's supposition that the position of components is exacerbating the issue.

This video says they changed the refresh direction with the mini 6 and the jelly effect is just noticeable because iPads are more often held in portrait when reading:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWKb_khoFzw

It doesn't happen in landscape (3:11). By switching it around, it will now happen in landscape like on older iPad minis. Here is an iPad mini 4 with jelly scrolling in landscape:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbpiMNXI24Y

The proper fixes will be using ProMotion 120Hz with faster refresh or eventually using OLED.

PauloSeraa 50 comments · 1 Year

Marvin said:

AppleInsider said:
"The mini has changed the direction of screen assembly," wrote the leaker (in translation) as spotted by MacRumors, "and the jelly screen phenomenon has been improved."

That change of screen assembly direction does fit with iFixit's supposition that the position of components is exacerbating the issue.

This video says they changed the refresh direction with the mini 6 and the jelly effect is just noticeable because iPads are more often held in portrait when reading:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWKb_khoFzw

It doesn't happen in landscape (3:11). By switching it around, it will now happen in landscape like on older iPad minis. Here is an iPad mini 4 with jelly scrolling in landscape:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbpiMNXI24Y

The proper fixes will be using ProMotion 120Hz with faster refresh or eventually using OLED.

Correct. The proper fix is to stop cheaping out on the hardware and add ProMotion to the mid-tier iPads after its 6 year run as an exclusive feature of iPad Pro.