A teardown of the iPad mini 7 raises more questions than answers.
Screenshot: iFixit
iFixit’s teardown of the iPad mini 7 reveals that Apple has made few internal changes to the device. The internal layout is also the same as the iPad mini 6.
Interestingly, there were earlier rumors that Apple would rotate the iPad mini 7’s display controller to solve the jelly scrolling issue. But that’s not the case.
No internal layout changes on iPad mini 7
The 2021 iPad mini 6 launches with a sleek new design and a larger 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display. Although this tablet packed a lot of power into a compact form factor, it quickly became infamous for its jelly-like scrolling issues. This issue caused one side of the display to scroll faster than the other half, causing screen tearing.
apple publicly defended the issue, saying that the jelly scrolling effect is “normal behavior for LCD screens.” Many people think that the inverted display controller is is causing the problem.
The original iPad mini 7 review notes that Apple has addressed the jelly scrolling issue in the latest iPad. But as iFixit’s teardown revealed, Apple didn’t accomplish this by repositioning the display controller. The display chips seem to be the same at first glance.
The Apple logo on the back is removable!
Another surprising tidbit from iFixit’s teardown of the iPad mini 7 is the removable Apple logo on the back. This appears to be the first time the company has used a removable logo on a device. Unlike the iPhone 16 Pro series, Apple still uses sticky sticky pull tabs to hold the iPad mini 7’s battery in place.
Like its predecessor, the iPad mini 7’s design makes it easy to replace the battery and USB-C port. However, accessing the internals can be difficult as the display has to be removed and can be damaged in the process. In-house repairs are even more difficult because Apple doesn’t have replacement spare parts or repair manuals.
Overall, the iPad mini 7 received a preliminary repairability score of 3 out of 10 in iFixit’s teardown.
