MacBook Pro 2021 Safari scrolling woes reportedly fixed in macOS 12.2

MacBook Pro 16-inch on wooden table in modern office
(Image credit: Future)

Owners of new MacBook Pro models with Mini-LED screens who were complaining about not feeling the benefit of the display’s ProMotion tech when scrolling in the Safari web browser are reporting that the latest version of macOS Monterey (which is still in testing) has fixed this issue.

This potentially good news was flagged up by MacRumors, with the tech site reporting that multiple readers have said on its forums that the macOS 12.2 beta has solved what has been an apparent thorn in the side for some MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch users.

After installing version 12.2 of the OS, these users are saying that scrolling around a web page in Safari is now smoother, and performance in the browser is improved. In short, ProMotion is working as it should.

ProMotion, of course, is Apple’s tech which intelligently adjusts the display depending on the scenario and the nature of the on-screen content, changing the refresh rate which can hit up to 120Hz on the new Mini-LED MacBooks, and thus it should help ensure smooth scrolling in a browser app.


Analysis: ProMotion playing up is bad news for a browser

ProMotion has been something of a thorny issue in Safari and other apps, with it purportedly not working correctly in some pieces of software (while it’s fine in the rest). Although obviously Safari, as Apple’s web browser, is a bad one to go awry, giving that smooth scrolling is crucial to avoid any kind of jarring experience while reading a web page.

Of course, this is supposedly fixed in the current developer beta, meaning the cure is still in early testing, and still has to come to public beta yet, before release. As to when the final release might happen, we can hopefully expect macOS Monterey 12.2 to arrive early next year, with February being the most likely guess (but you never know, it could sneak in before that).

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).