If you own an iPad mini 6, you may be familiar with ‘jelly scrolling’: the screen tearing effect that makes text and images look tilted due to different refresh rates. Rumor has it that Apple plans to fix the problem on the iPad mini 7.
This comes from a tipster named Directly digital on the Chinese social media site Weibo (via MacRumors), and apparently a change has been made to the way the iPad mini screen is mounted, meaning the effect won’t be as noticeable on the next model.
Apple has stated that this ‘jelly scrolling’ is normal behavior for an LCD screen, due to the way the screen refreshes – although there seems to be something about the size of the iPad mini that makes it easier to spot.
Furthermore, the problem only occurs in portrait mode and not in landscape mode. It certainly doesn’t make the iPad mini 6 unusable – we gave it four out of five stars – but the problem is hard to avoid once you know it’s there.
New camera, new chipset
The same tipster, who has made accurate predictions in the past, also says that the iPad mini 7 will come with an improved front-facing camera. The selfie camera on the current model is a 12 MP ultrawide model.
Instant Digital also suggests that the next iPad mini could arrive later this month, along with an updated first-generation Apple Pencil that uses USB-C, and the iPad Air 6 (a prediction previously reported).
There’s still quite a bit of uncertainty about when Apple’s next iPad refresh will happen, but considering the iPad mini 6 launched in September 2021, a new model is somewhat overdue at this stage. We’ve heard rumors that it would be released before the end of 2023.
When it arrives, there may not be many upgrades: there is talk of a faster chipset, although the design could remain the same. It seems likely that any launch announcement will be made via an Apple press release, rather than a special event.