Wild rumor has Apple testing new 8.3-inch screens for a ProMotion version of the 5G iPad mini 6

In late September, when Apple released the iPad mini 6, several users started complaining about "jelly scrolling" on the tablet's 8.3-inch display. For those who are not sure what this means, when the device is oriented in portrait mode, the right side of the display is running faster than the left side delivering to users an uneven UI experience. Apple explained away the issue by stating that this behavior is normal for an LCD display because such screens refresh line-by-line.

According to a South Korean tipster named @FronTron (via Cult of Mac), Apple is considering a small refresh to the iPad mini 6 that would exchange the current 60Hz screen on the device for a 120Hz ProMotion display. Found on iPad Pro tablets since 2017, and included on this year's iPhone 13 Pro models, the ProMotion display updates at a rate of up to 120 times per second to deliver buttery-smooth scrolling, and enhanced animations and transitions.

To save on battery life, the ProMotion display drops down to 10Hz (updating 10 times a second) when the content on the screen doesn't benefit from the faster screen refreshes. For example, scrolling and playing mobile games would certainly take advantage of the 120Hz refresh rate while reading emails and texts wouldn't. The tipster says that Apple is currently testing the 8.3-inch panels that are being produced by Samsung.

Should Apple decide to refresh the display on the iPad mini 6, it wouldn't help those who have already purchased the device. Frankly, we really can't see Apple refreshing the iPad mini 6 display, especially since it would be an admission that "jelly scrolling" is a bug which is something that Apple has yet to do. So unfortunately, we must take this rumor with a whole canister of salt.

The iPad mini 6 features the 8.3-inch LCD display, up from the 7.9-inch display previously used on the series. The device is powered by the 5nm A15 Bionic chipset which carries 15 billion transistors and is the same component that you'll find inside the iPhone 13 series. The tablet also now features support for 5G connectivity and a USB-C port.