The rumor comes from Instant Digital on Weibo. As MacRumors points out, the account doesn’t have a long-term track record, but it has gotten a handful of recent rumors correct. This includes reporting on the iPhone 14 yellow color update, the iPhone 15’s new matte back glass design, and more.
With that in mind, Instant Digital reports this week that the forthcoming iPad mini 7 will feature an improved display meant to address the “jelly scrolling” problem that has plagued the iPad mini 6.
The rumor says that Apple has “changed the screen assembly direction” on the iPad mini 7. Notably, other rumors have said the iPad mini 7’s display will not be updated to a 120Hz refresh rate. Instead, it will retain the current 60Hz refresh rate.
In addition to the new display, Instant Digital also says the iPad mini 7 will feature an upgraded front-facing camera and the A16 Bionic chip inside. This is the same chip used in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. Currently, the iPad mini 6 is powered by the A15 Bionic.
The rumor (translated) says:
Mini changed the screen assembly direction and jelly screen phenomenon improved. The front camera seems to have been upgraded, but the details are not very clear.
Shortly after the iPad mini 6 was released, a number of users complained of this jelly scrolling problem. For those unfamiliar, jelly scrolling is when half of a device’s display refreshes noticeably slower than the other half. This results in a sort of wobble effect, hence the “jelly scrolling” name.
Apple was later hit with a class-action lawsuit that alleged the iPad mini 6 was made “unusable” by this jelly scrolling display issue.
My wish is that Apple will just give the iPad mini the “ProMotion” treatment, but it doesn’t seem like that’s in the cards this year. The company also isn’t planning to upgrade the iPad mini to OLED for at least a few years.
