iPad mini 6 Also Reportedly Exhibiting A Display Issue

It looks like the iPhone 13 Pro models aren’t the only newly launched Apple products experiencing display issues. According to 9to5Mac and The Verge’s Dieter Bohn, exhibited on the company’s new iPad mini 6 is a wobbling effect that occurs when content is moving quickly on screen when used in portrait mode.

The issue, also dubbed as “jelly scrolling” by both sources as well as owners of the tablet, is easily noticeable when scrolling up or down on a web page or certain apps (ie: social media). As demonstrated by Bohn in a Twitter post, it appears that one side of the 6th gen iPad mini 6’s display is refreshing slower than the other, thus causing content to appear as if it is wobbling. Strangely enough, he notes that the effect is not present when using the new tablet in horizontal orientation.

It looks like that this isn’t an isolated issue either, as an owner told 9to5Mac that the wobbling effect is also present on all iPad mini  6 demo units that are displayed in their local Apple Store. The company has yet to acknowledge and address the flaw, and it is still uncertain whether it is caused by the tablet’s LCD panel, its display controllers, or by its firmware/software.

Apple recently responded to the iPhone 13 Pro series’ refresh rate issue and promised to roll out a fix soon. With that, hopefully the company would also follow up on the 6th gen iPad mini and offer a potential solution for the display’s wobbling effect problem.

As previously reported, the iPad mini 6 will retail at a starting price of RM2,299, but its expected arrival in Malaysia has not been determined at this time. Meanwhile, all four iPhone 13 variations, which includes the standard, mini, Pro and Pro Max models, are slated to arrive locally next month on 8 October.

Apple Reportedly Launching Redesigned iPad Mini In Fall 2021

It is believed that Apple is planning to introduce a redesigned iPad Mini, according to various unofficial sources as early as late 2020. Originally speculated to be released in the first half of this year, a new report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurnam now suggests that the iPhone maker is due to launch the tablet by fall 2021.

Gurnam claims that the new iPad Mini will sport a design similar to the latest iPad Air. This could possibly mean that the tablet will come with a larger screen-to-body ratio by featuring thinner bezels and removing the physical home button. Unsurprisingly, it will also be equipped with the latest Apple processor, but its other specifications such as storage and battery capacities are not known at this time.

Although his prediction for the Mini’s release ended up inaccurate, renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also claimed that the tablet will feature a larger display that is believed to be in between 8.5 inches and 9 inches. However, it is unclear whether he was referring to the iPad Mini’s overall size or just its screen. Meanwhile, another earlier leak (shown below) suggests that this refresh will see Apple debuting an in-display camera and home button cutout – which actually sounds very uncharacteristic for the brand, so we advise to take this information with a generous serving of salt.

A redesign for the Mini is perhaps one of the most long awaited refreshes to happen, given the fact that the series has been sticking with the same design for several generations. Mark Gurnam even described this upcoming release as “the biggest redesign in the nine-year history” of the product.

Regardless, we won’t know for certain for now as Apple has yet to officially announce the development of a redesigned iPad Mini. Hopefully we’ll hear something from them soon, perhaps during a potential keynote that’s likely to happen within the remainder of the year.

Apple iPhone 12 And iPhone 12 mini Receives New Purple Colour Option

Last night’s Spring Loaded event saw the launch of several new products from Apple; including the brand new iPad Pro, iMac computers, AirTags and more. Much to our surprise, the Cupertino-based company also managed to slip in an iPhone announcement, but not in the major kind of way that most would have hoped for. 

Months after their initial debut back in late October last year, Apple has revealed that the standard and mini variants of its iPhone 12 smartphone series will receive a new addition to its current colour selection. Slated to arrive soon, fans can now own these models in the newly announced Purple colour. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Usually we’d expect phone brands to provide some sort of explanation as to why a new option has suddenly emerged, often with some fancy copywriting to go along with it. Instead, Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak simply said, “The new purple finish, just in time for spring, adds another bright and fun option to the lineup, and we think customers are going to love it.” 

Aside from the new colour addition, everything else remains unchanged. Both the standard and mini variants of the iPhone 12 retain the same 5G-enabled A14 Bionic chip, RAM and storage configurations, MagSafe capabilities, so on and so forth. The company did note that the newer batch will ship with the recently announced iOS 14.5 firmware update, which is also slated to roll out to users sometime next week.

Apple says that the aforementioned Purple cladded iPhone 12 models will be available in the US starting 30 April, with pre-orders opening soon on 23 April. At this current time, the new colour selection is listed to be “coming soon” on Apple Malaysia’s website and despite featuring a newer colour, both models are offered at the same price as their original release. Specifically, the standard iPhone 12 is offered at a starting price of RM 3,899, while the mini variant starts at RM 3,399.

ASUS Confirms Existence Of ZenFone 8 Mini Variant; Launches On 13 May

Rumours of an ASUS ZenFone 8 Mini first surfaced last month, complete with supposed specs of the device. Now, the company has seemingly confirmed its existence with physical invitations being shared with western tech news outlets.

PhoneArena has shared a few images of the invite, which consists of two cards. One reads “BIG IN SIZE”, and a smaller, transparent one has “on Performance” and Compact” written on it. Putting them together then reads “big on performance, compact in size”. This also implies that it would be called a Compact rather than a Mini, much like the older Sony Xperia devices. Naturally no specs of the device were revealed.

The card also has the launch dates of ASUS ZenFone 8 series, which will likely include the Mini or Compact variant. There’s also a web page for the launch event, with the same “big on performance, compact in size” line. Below that is a countdown to the launch event which, for our timezone, is 1AM on 13 May. And it’s just between two to three weeks away.

It’s always nice to see another manufacturer make a smaller device, in a market of six-inch plus devices. Hopefully the ASUS ZenFone 8 Mini or Compact does not differ too much from the larger device.

Alleged Apple iPhone 13 mini Design Leaks; Features New Camera Layout

It appears that the alleged design for the next generation mini variant of Apple’s iPhone has been leaked, according to two different sources. The first, via a post on Weibo, revealed a CAD drawing of the new device alongside its predecessor, while the second is a mock render provided by leakster David Kowalski aka xleaks7 (in collaboration with Italian website Coverpigtou.it).

Both leaks suggest that the iPhone 13 mini will feature a new layout for its dual camera setup. Each sensor is now arranged diagonally from each other, as opposed to the vertical layout of its predecessor. One noticeable discrepancy is the size of the sensors, where they seem to appear larger in the Weibo leak, while Kowalski’s render shows them to be smaller.

As for the rest of the device, the leak from Kowalski reveals the same flat design for the phone’s surrounding frame. The leakster also claimed that the iPhone 12 mini measures at 146.64 x 71.5 x 56 mm in terms of dimensions, therefore appearing no different from last year’s model. The notch on its suggested 5.4-inch display is shown to be slightly smaller – somewhat corroborating another leak that revealed Apple’s allegedly updated design language that we’ve reported last week.

Unfortunately, neither of these leaks included any information regarding the other hardware specifications of the iPhone 13 mini or its siblings. However, Kowalski noted that all iPhone 13 devices will feature LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) displays and are expected to launch in October with a starting price of US$ 699 (~RM 2,888). For your reference, last year’s iPhone 12 mini launched at around the same price (locally at RM 3,399) for the 64GB configuration.

Samsung To Refresh Odyssey G9 Gaming Monitor With Quantum Mini LED Panel, VESA DisplayHDR 2000 Certification

It’s been more than a year since Samsung first announced its Odyssey gaming monitor series, with the Odyssey G9 being the ultrawide darling of the lineup. As you’d expect, the monitor is due for a refresh and thanks to a leak on the China-based online retail store, Taobao, we have an idea over what we can expect.

For the most part, the new Odyssey G9 will retain most of the features from the 2020 model. This includes the ultrawide 5120 x 1440 (DQHD) resolution, spread out on its massive 49-inch display, as well as its ultra-high 240Hz refresh rate and 1ms GTG response rate. Oh, and the curvature of the monitor is still rated at 1000R, and it still retains its NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility too.

What is expected to be different, though, is that the display panel is no longer your typical VA; instead, the 2021 Odyssey G9’s panel will reportedly be using Samsung’s 10-bit Quantum Mini LED technology. That in turn, will allow for the gaming monitor to have a higher peak brightness of 2000 nits, but more importantly, it also gets a much better VESA DisplayHDR 2000 certification.

At the time of writing, there is no official pricing for the refreshed Samsung Odyssey G9 and that listed price of 29999 Yuan (~RM18937) on Taobao is likely just a placeholder. The current Odyssey G9 retails for RM6199, so even if Samsung was going to increase the price, it’s unlikely to be three times the price.

Amazfit GTS 2 Mini Smartwatch Pre-Order Now Open In Malaysia; Priced At RM399

Amazfit will be introducing three new smartwatches soon at CES 2021, including newer versions of its GTS 2 and GTR 2 line-ups. To kick things off, the brand has revealed that the first of the upcoming wearables, the Amazfit GTS 2 Mini, will launch in Malaysia soon – with pre-orders now already available via its official Shopee store.

The GTS 2 Mini features an Always-On 1.55-inch AMOLED display with 301 ppi resolution and covered with curved borderless 2.5D glass. Its body is made from sturdy yet lightweight aluminium alloy and comes with a water resistant rating of 5ATM. The device measures at 8.95mm and is just 19.5g in weight.

The upcoming wearable is available in three colour choices: Flamingo Pink, Sage Green, and Midnight Black. For further personalisation, onboard are over 50 specially designed watch faces and also support custom backgrounds from the user.

In terms of features, the Amazfit GTS 2 Mini comes with a variety of health tracking capabilities including heart rate, blood-oxygen saturation, sleep, stress and even menstrual cycle monitoring. For sports, the smartwatch features over 70 built-in modes ranging from running, cycling, swimming, and more.

Like most smartwatches, the GTS 2 Mini also includes features such as call and message notifications, remote camera shutter, and media playback controls. Amazfit claims that the watch is capable of lasting up to 14 days on a single charge, and up to 21 days on power-saving mode.

As mentioned earlier, the watch is slated to be released in Malaysia sometime soon and is priced at RM399. Those interested to own the new Amazfit GTS 2 Mini can pre-order the device via the brand’s official store on Shopee.