The seventh-generation iPad mini sports activities an A17 Professional chip for Apple Intelligence. Credit score: Apple
A brand new teardown of the seventh-generation iPad mini has revealed little or no in the best way of modifications, and no obvious bodily change to cut back jelly scrolling regardless of proof that the impact is minimized.
The 2024 iPad mini would not do away with the issue solely, however reduces the impact — regardless of no apparent change to the show driver board. The teardown by iFixit.com did, nevertheless, uncover a few of Apple’s modifications to the brand new mannequin — together with an attention-grabbing change to the Apple brand seen on the again of the gadget.
Along with upgrading the chip to the A17 Professional and the minimal RAM to 8GB in order that the brand new iPad mini helps Apple Intelligence, Apple has upgraded the bottom storage to 128GB. Due to the brand new chip, the 2024 iPad mini now helps each the Apple Pencil, and the brand new Apple Pencil Professional.
As well as, the Wi-Fi module was upgraded to assist Wi-Fi 6E, and the USB-C port can now switch information at speeds as much as 10Gbps. Other than these modifications, nevertheless, iFixit reviews that the one different notable change to the brand new iPad mini is the discount of the jelly scroll impact.
Merely put, it is a slight “tearing” impact that’s most clearly seen when scrolling by means of textual content. It is brought on by a slight mismatch within the refresh charges between the left and proper halves of the display.
Federico Viticci of MacStories believes the difficulty has been “solved” due to a brand new optimized show controller that reduces the lag between the left and proper display refreshes. iFixit used a high-speed digital camera to indicate that whereas the impact has been dramatically lowered, it isn’t solely eradicated.
The problem might need been additional lowered if Apple had modified the show to a 120Hz mannequin, however Apple remains to be utilizing a 60Hz IPS show within the new mannequin. The teardown revealed that when it comes to components, virtually nothing else has modified from the 2021 mannequin.
One or two small surprises
One new discovery within the teardown was that the brand new USB-C port is extra simply replaceable than it was within the earlier model. That is excellent news from a repairability standpoint, because the USB-C port sees numerous put on and tear over a number of years.
A CT scan of the iPad mini forward of its disassembly additionally revealed a change to the silver Apple brand on the again of the machine, and the teardown discovered that the emblem is now not etched into the steel because it was in earlier fashions.
Which means that the Apple brand is now a separate piece glued in place to the again plate. This makes it simply detachable — after the primary portion of the gadget’s parts have been eliminated.
iFixit has issued a provisional rating for the 2024 iPad mini of three out of 10. This matches the rating the corporate gave to the earlier mannequin.