Rumor has it that the next iPad mini could adopt ProMotion, Apple’s screen technology providing dynamic refresh rates up to 120Hz which could also help fix jelly scrolling.
HIGHLIGHTS
- A future iPad mini should adopt Apple’s ProMotion screen technology
- ProMotion provides dynamic refresh rates up to 120Hz
- ProMotion should help resolve the jelly scrolling issue
How a future iPad mini could fix jelly scrolling
The current sixth-generation model redraws onscreen images sixty times per second.
But Apple is reportedly now working on a future iPad mini model with twice the screen refresh rate, or up to 120Hz, according to a sketchy post on a Korean forum and shared on Twitter. The rumor claims that Apple is now testing screen samples from Samsung Displays for use in a future iPad mini that will support ProMotion technology.
As MacRumors explains, using twice the refresh rate would basically make the jelly scrolling effect much less visible, essentially resolving the issue.
Similar to other Apple devices with ProMotion (iPad Pro, iPhone 12 Pro models and new MacBook Pros), a future iPad mini would drop the refresh rate to as low as 24 frames per second or even less when enjoying static content, like a document. But start scrolling rapidly or open a graphics-intensive app like a game and ProMotion may boost the refresh rate all the way up to 120Hz.
As such, ProMotion helps save battery life by not wasting resources on redrawing the display sixty times per second when a lower refresh rate could do just as well.
What is jelly scrolling?
Apple went on the record to clarify that this problem is actually “normal LCD behavior” stemming from the fact that an LCD screen refreshes itself line by line. As a result, there may be a bit of a delay when the top and bottom of the screen are refreshed. It’s this mismatch in refresh rates that causes the screen to tear.
Because Apple is saying this is “normal behavior,” don’t expect to see any kind of fix for jelly scrolling. And it probably won’t be covered under a warranty. iFixit’s teardown of iPad mini 6, the device refreshes the display from one side to another in a wave-like pattern. The repair site believes jelly scrolling is caused by the placement of the controller board which is located in a vertical position on the left-hand side of the screen. According to iFixit, that’s why jelly scrolling occurs in portrait mode but not in landscape.
Launched on September 24, 2021, the sixth-generation iPad mini features USB-C connectivity instead of Lightning along with an 8.3-inch 2266×1488 Liquid Retina display.
The tablet has adopted a fullscreen design that’s similar to the iPad Pro line, with a Touch ID fingerprint scanner built into the device’s power button like on the new iPad Air. Other improvements include Apple’s under-clocked A15 Bionic chip with six processing cores, five graphics cores and 16 cores for accelerating machine learning tasks, and more.