The iPad mini 6 introduced tons of massive changes to the tiny tablet family, the primary one for a very while. Not only has it adopted the planning language now common across all iPhones and iPads, but it also finally embraced the USB-C connector. Although it seems minor compared, the larger display of the 6th gen iPad mini has significant consequences, including what might be the explanation for what has been termed because of the “jelly scrolling” behavior that Apple is dismissing as something completely normal.
Apple clarified that this uneven scrolling is typical of LCD screens and that they do have some extent. The way these screens refresh line by line often causes a lag, especially near the highest and bottom edges of the screen. However, it doesn’t explain why this phenomenon is more noticeable on the iPad mini 6 compared to other iPads with LCD screens or maybe laptops.
iFixit’s teardown of the newest and smallest iPad may have revealed the answers, though it’s still theoretical on the teardown experts’ part. It’s something to try with how the display controllers are oriented about the scrolling direction. When the scrolling direction is parallel to the controller, which is the case with the iPad mini 6 in portrait mode, the jelly effect is more noticeable. That explains why the “bug” seemingly disappears during a landscape orientation or why the iPad Air 2020 behaves reverse.
While this will have shed some light on the iPad mini 6’s predicament, the teardown, unfortunately, doesn’t give much reassurance on repairability. The surprising presence of A battery pull tab clothed to be a red herring and a modular USB-C port doesn’t do much to enhance the tablet’s rating. iFixit gives it a 3 out of 10, still one among rock bottom among Apple’s devices.
The theory about the jelly scrolling effect does explain why Apple insists it’s all normal, though that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable behavior. Unfortunately, it does mean that it’s not something that will be easily repaired, and therefore the only recourse users will have is to either get won’t to it or hope that Apple develops some software trick to offset that lag.
