iPad Mini 8 reviewer not happy with Apple’s excuse for lack of 120Hz display

The new iPad mini has an OLED display, but the device does not support ProMotion, meaning the screen refresh rate is limited to 60 Hz instead of 120 Hz. Apple said OLED displays still have significantly faster pixel response times than LCD displays, which reduces motion blur, but The edgeDavid Pierce is not entirely satisfied.

Excerpt from his review of the iPad mini 8:

Apple’s response, to Chris Lawley and others, was along the lines of “120 Hz is irrelevant, OLED’s faster pixel response fixes the issues.” I don’t agree. I don’t think the lack of ProMotion is an immediate and total problem, but refresh rates matter! To games and high-touch creative apps, sure, but you notice the difference even with basic swiping and zooming. The Apple Pencil seems more jerky when moving across my screen. On a 120Hz display, I can scroll through a browser page and still clearly read the text as it moves. With 60 Hz, it becomes blurry. In all of these cases, even if you don’t explicitly see the difference, you actually feel it.

Of course, an OLED screen is still a significant upgrade overall.

OLED technology allows for higher contrast and more vibrant colors because there is no backlight and individual pixels turn off completely to display true black. Apple also claims that the new iPad mini can achieve a peak brightness of 600 nits for standard content, up from 500 nits for the previous model and up to 1,200 nits for HDR content.

Apple’s technical specifications state that the new iPad mini has a contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1.

The new iPad mini is available for pre-order now, with US pricing starting at $699 for a model with 128GB of storage. The device launches on Friday.