Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Apple Over iPad mini 6’s ‘Jelly Scrolling’ Defect

BY Anu Joy

Published 10 Feb 2022

ipad-mini

Apple has been slapped with a lawsuit in the Northern California district court for allegedly fraudulent marketing and selling the iPad mini 6 despite knowing about its “jelly scrolling” defect. The class action lawsuit was filed by Colorado resident Christopher Bryan on Wednesday.

Some iPad mini 6 owners have noticed a “jelly scrolling” issue with the display, wherein one part of the screen refreshes faster than the other. This issue is easily noticeable when the device is used in portrait mode to scroll through lists, websites, and large documents.

Apple Accused of Knowingly Selling Faulty Devices

The complaint accuses Apple of knowingly selling the faulty iPad mini without fixing the defect or reviewing its marketing materials to acknowledge the display issue, according to court filings seen by MacRumors. It adds that Apple “acted in an unethical, unscrupulous, outrageous, oppressive, and substantially injurious manner” by promoting and selling devices it knew were defective “because they contain a display prone to “screen tearing,” resulting in nausea, headaches, blurred vision, and other similar symptoms.”

Here’s an excerpt from the filing:

The iPad Mini is defective, as the liquid crystal display (“LCD”) is prone to “screen tearing which can make images or text on one side of the screen appear to be tilted at a downward angle because of incongruity in refresh rates,” causing “one side of the screen [to] look[] as if it’s responding faster than the other side, which creates [a] visual disturbance” called “jelly scrolling” that Apple has acknowledged (the “Jelly Scroll Defect” or “Defect”)

Back in September last year, Apple tried to defend itself saying that the “jelly scroll” issue is normal for devices with LCD screens. iFixit said that the issue is more prominent on the iPad mini 6’s 8.3-inch display compared to other similar-sized panels due to the orientation of the display controller on the device.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple failed to perform a comprehensive test before launching the new sixth-gen iPad mini. It seeks damages on behalf of those who purchased the device in the U.S.

[Via MacRumors]