2021 iPad mini owners who are hoping for a fix for its mysterious “jelly scrolling” effect will be disappointed to learn that Apple considers this “normal behavior for LCD screens.”
Cupertino said uneven scrolling can occur because of the way in which its Liquid Retina displays refresh line by line. However, the behavior has not been spotted on other Apple devices with LCD screens, like the newest iPad Air.
’Jelly scrolling’ isn’t a problem on 2021 iPad mini
The strange scrolling effect on the 2021 iPad mini was first spotted by Dieter Bohn, a reporter for The Verge, who documented it on Twitter. He also posted a slow motion video that made the “subtle” behavior easier to see.
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.
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
— Dieter Bohn (@backlon) September 22, 2021
Other iPad mini owners then started noticing the same effect on their own devices, while some said they were able to spot it on display models they tried out in the Apple Store. All were hoping Apple would have a fix.
It seems, however, that Apple doesn’t consider this a problem that needs to be fixed. “Apple has told us that the ‘jelly scroll’ issue on the 6th-generation iPad mini is normal behavior for LCD screens,” reports Ars Technica.
“Because these screens do refresh line by line, there is a tiny delay between when the lines at the top of the screen and lines at the bottom are refreshed. This can cause uneven scrolling issues like the ones observed on the iPad.”
Why only iPad mini?
This effect has surfaced on other devices not manufactured by Apple in the past. It plagued users of the original Samsung Galaxy Fold, who blamed its flexible display technology, and more recently on smartphones from OnePlus.
However, the problem has not been observed on other Apple devices with LCD screens, such as the latest iPad Air, the previous-generation iPad mini, the entry-level iPad, or earlier iPhone models.
Because Apple doesn’t consider this a problem, it seems as though it has no plans to try to eliminate the effect with a software update. That means that if your iPad mini is exhibiting this behavior, well … you’re stuck with it.
Of course, you do have 14 days to return your device if jelly scrolling is something you can’t live with.
