Apple Says 'Jelly Scrolling' on iPad Mini 6 is Normal Behavior for LCD Screens

[AndiG]

Never seen this happen on my iPad Pro.

The explanation is strange just because of the way displays work. To avoid this kind of behavior we use double buffering and vertical sync for decades now.
You paint in one buffer while the other buffer is displayed. The swap of both buffers happens in something that we used to call the „vertical blank interrupt“ when we had crt monitors - basically it is just a vertical sync. Imagine it as
- display refresh finished
- swap buffers
- display refresh finished
- swap buffers
tbc ….

Screen tearing only appears if you swap buffers during a display refresh. So this seems to be an odd behavior/ odd explanation of Apple. Under normal circumstances a display refresh is invisible to the human eye.

 

[Shirasaki]

Never seen this happen on my iPad Pro.

The explanation is strange just because of the way displays work. To avoid this kind of behavior we use double buffering and vertical sync for decades now.
You paint in one buffer while the other buffer is displayed. The swap of both buffers happens in something that we used to call the „vertical blank interrupt“ when we had crt monitors - basically it is just a vertical sync. Imagine it as
- display refresh finished
- swap buffers
- display refresh finished
- swap buffers
tbc ….

Screen tearing only appears if you swap buffers during a display refresh. So this seems to be an odd behavior/ odd explanation of Apple. Under normal circumstances a display refresh is invisible to the human eye.

Maybe display driver is not good enough to maintain enough buffer? Maybe more buffer is needed to maintain smooth scrolling? I don’t see jelly effect on my iPad Pro 2021 at all no matter how I scroll it. 120Hz must have something to do with it as screen needs to buffer more during the “swap” you mentioned here.

 

[Plantain]

Reading this news while owning the iPad mini 6 with jelly scroll was the equivalent to getting a membership for the jelly of the month club. reference

 

[cap7ainclu7ch]

Not.
In.
Portrait.
Mode.

and not even close to this pronounced as a result.

Do we have comparisons with the older model iPads? From an outside view this looks like people overreacting to a 60hz screen, but I haven't used one yet.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Do we have comparisons with the older model iPads? From an outside view this looks like people overreacting to a 60hz screen, but I haven't used one yet.

We don't need comparisons -- the panel orientation changed with the Mini 6

Jelly is there on older Mini's, but it was different and way less obvious or noticeable as a result of being in the different direction.

 

[Abazigal]

Can somebody explain to me how a company that has been producing LCD based products for decades is able to get away with this excuse?

Because the vast majority of users are not going to have an issue with this (which has apparently been there since the iPad Air, and nobody made any noise about that).

It’s a problem only because some people want it to be a problem, like bending ipads.

 

[cap7ainclu7ch]

We don't need comparisons -- the panel orientation changed with the Mini 6

Jelly is there on older Mini's, but it was different and way less obvious or noticeable as a result of being in the different direction.

Gotcha, that makes sense. Though we don't really see people complaining about these issues all these years even though people do scroll in landscape as well...Definitely being overblown by many, but they should have stuck with the previous orientation as thats the more common use case.

 

[AndiG]

Maybe display driver is not good enough to maintain enough buffer? Maybe more buffer is needed to maintain smooth scrolling? I don’t see jelly effect on my iPad Pro 2021 at all no matter how I scroll it. 120Hz must have something to do with it as screen needs to buffer more during the “swap” you mentioned here.

If the LCD display refreshes at 30hertz but you swap buffers at 60, you might see this. So basically if swapping and refresh are out of sync or if the display/lcd panel has a bad quality and rakes longer to refresh than it tells you.

 

[poematik13]

I miss Steve.

You mean the guy who told you to buy a case when it was discovered the iPhone 4's antenna reception was blocked by your hands?

The issue is reproducible on all the older iPad Minis. It's just this time some prominent Twitter users have decided to make an issue of it.

Enjoy your iPad Minis and stop worrying about a totally fabricated non-issue.

Exactly. It's all a work to farm social media clout and engagement.

The people who are loudest about this **** on forums aren't even owners of the device, it's sour grapes that oppurtunistic hateboys jump on to milk

Been using the mini 6 heavily since launch day in both orientiations and I litearlly cannot noticeably reproduce the effect when scrolling through text heavy pages. It's overdramatized because when apple bleeds it leads $$$$

 

[Ixon2001]

@ poematik13

Well if your happy to keep riding on the back of a unicorn with rainbows & fairies shooting out of its backside, with Timmy upfront preaching how great life is in Apple Land then so be it.

Rest of us in the real world know this is a problem.

 

[Deliro]

My mini doesn't have any of this behavior, so I got a one that doesn't experience "normal behavior"? I'm outraged!

 

[rxp]

Just use OLED alreday - only thing that's preventing me from getting an iPad.

 

[klky]

Frankly, I didn't need to look for other reasons to turn me off the mini once I saw how poorly implemented iPadOS15 is, particularly the layout and spacing on the home screen. It's actually pretty shocking. Not crazy about the size of the bezels either but not much Apple can do about that now.

 

[rfog]

I'm returning mine today. Not only the jelly-scroll, but the battery duration: only two system widgets in screen, all background activity disabled, 1% of battery drain per hour when idling, 10% per hour simply reading in Books with bright to the minimum.

 

[fenjen]

We got to the point where Apple being in blatant denial is also normal behavior.

It's not denial, it's literally how screens work. Screens refresh from one side to the other. If I recall correctly this used to happen on my 2015 Pro, but in Landscape mode (since it refreshed from top to bottom in portrait mode), but nobody cared. It seems they've just gone for a display that refreshes from top to bottom in landscape mode now, that's the only difference.

 

[fenjen]

If the LCD display refreshes at 30hertz but you swap buffers at 60, you might see this. So basically if swapping and refresh are out of sync or if the display/lcd panel has a bad quality and rakes longer to refresh than it tells you.

No, this is not a vsync issue. If you aim a slow-mo camera at any screen you will see that it refreshes from one side to another. The only thing is the refreshing orientation changed. This happened before in older devices but then in landscape mode.

 

[Macintosh101]

Re: the orientation change.

The problem for Apple now is this: somewhere along the process of this redesign, someone decided to prioritize landscape mode (for reasons that baffle me).

Someone somewhere then failed communicate this to Marketing or Retail, because:
- When you visit Apple’s splash page for the Mini the first thing you see is the new Mini shown in… portrait.
- When you go to buy the product from anywhere (Amazon, Apple, etc) the device is shown in…portrait.
- When iJustine (Youtuber) interviewed Tim Cook the other day he showed her the new Mini and was holding it in… portrait .
- If you go into a retail store the new Minis are all laid out in…portrait.

 

[ofarlig]

So, what is more likely to happen, Apple changing the display update diraction next year or us getting a Pro Mini with 120 Hz that should help? I do hope there is some update next year so I can get the redesigned mini.

 

[Abazigal]

So, what is more likely to happen, Apple changing the display update diraction next year or us getting a Pro Mini with 120 Hz that should help? I do hope there is some update next year so I can get the redesigned mini.

Neither, looking at the update cycle for the iPad mini and people not likely using it in the same way one might use an iPad Pro (eg: drawing, photo editing). iPad might do a silent refresh if they ever manage to work out the design kinks but otherwise, this is it.

 

[cardfan]

Some aren't sensitive to it and apparently don't notice it.

Apple has confirmed this is on every Mini 6 - there are none that "don't have it"

It's a matter of perception by the user

Yep with any issue on here there’s always those magical few who can’t see anything or have somehow beaten the odds and got a perfect device. Ignorance is always bliss.

 

[cardfan]

Maybe buying it at all is wrong?



Sort of where I ended up..

Yep. Pretty much. IMO apple brings it on themselves. There’s no reason the mini has to be such a lousy product. This is what happens when you cut costs and cheap out. It’s not the best iPad mini they can make but the cheapest. Oled or promotion would easily solve but apple uses low quality cheap screens for mini.

 

[arvinsim]

I regret looking for this issue. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

 

[DMG35]

How come people always quote Jobs as saying "You're holding it wrong" when that isn't what he said. He specifically said "Don't hold it that way" when someone told him that if they held the iPhoen 4 with all the antennas covered that it killed the signal.

Maybe "Don't scroll that way" would be a more accurate statement coming from Apple.

Just curious as I see people quote that all the time and he never said that.

 

[Macintosh101]

Personally, I wish there was a way I could scroll in portrait and *not* see this issue, but if I scroll slow, fast, etc , it’s always there for me.

 

[cardfan]

Just use OLED alreday - only thing that's preventing me from getting an iPad.

I expect they will. But not in the cheap mini anytime soon. You’ll need to pay up for an iPad Air. I’m sure it’ll be amazing.