Now that new iPad mini 6 owners have had a couple of days with Apple's latest redesigned tablet, some users are noticing an issue being referred to as "jelly scroll" when viewing the screen in portrait mode.
The term refers to a noticeable effect when scrolling vertically through text-based content like a webpage or document, where each line of text appears to tilt down towards the left of the screen as it passes by. The effect makes it look as though one side of the display is responding faster than the other when a finger drags to scroll the page.
Several MacRumors readers have noted the issue, which seems to affect users to a variable degree. Some iPad mini 6 owners claim they noticed the effect despite being ignorant of similar reports in the wild, while others see it only after having been made aware that it was even a thing.
Moreover, some users, having seen it, claim to be unable to "unsee" it, after which it becomes irritating to witness and can even induce eye strain. The issue was first brought to wider attention in a tweet by The Verge's Dieter Bohn, who demonstrated the effect in a slo-mo video.
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
MacRumors has independently confirmed that the effect can be seen by different people on the same sixth-generation iPad mini unit. MacRumors can also confirm that the issue was evident on all iPad mini 6 models on display in a local UK Apple Store. The issue wasn't reproducible in landscape orientation when scrolling, indicating this is a vertical refresh issue.
It's currently unclear if this is a hardware issue affecting only a certain batch of iPad mini units, a more widespread hardware problem, or something that could be fixed with a software update. We've reached out to Apple for comment.
