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It’s been three years since Apple refreshed the iPad mini, though you might not realize that based on aesthetics alone. The sixth-generation mini, for all intents and purposes, looks like any other modern iPad, albeit much smaller. But fans of this form factor have been weary about paying full price for a tablet running aging hardware, and have been looking to Apple to upgrade this novel product for some time.
Today’s the day, people. After plenty of rumors, including the potential for a full October event, Apple quietly announced the newest seventh-generation iPad mini. It’s the update many of us have been waiting for, but, ironically, it might make the iPad mini 6 a better deal than ever.
A17 Pro chip
Anyone concerned with aging hardware can relax with the iPad mini 7: While this tablet doesn’t come with an M-series chip like the iPad Pro or the iPad Air, it does ship with the A17 Pro chip, the same chip found in the iPhone 15 Pro. Apple does have a newer A-series chip than this, the A18, which is the chip the iPhone 16 series uses. That said, the A17 Pro is plenty powerful for a mini tablet, and is only one year old, so Apple will likely support it for quite a number of years.
To that point, Apple says the A17 Pro’s CPU is up to 30% faster than the iPad mini 6’s A15 Bionic, while graphics are up to 25% faster. Most importantly in 2024, the A17 Pro has a Neural Engine that is twice as fast as the iPad mini 6’s. That new Neural Engine means the iPad mini 7 can run Apple Intelligence, including new AI features like notification summaries, AI-powered writing tools, and an overhauled Siri. Initial Apple Intelligence features will ship with iPadOS 18.1, while future features, like Apple’s AI art generator, ChatGPT integration, and additional AI-powered Siri features, won’t arrive until future versions of iPadOS.
Apple Pencil Pro
The new mini also supports Apple’s latest Apple Pencil: Apple Pencil Pro. This Pencil comes with a sensor that lets you squeeze the stylus to access a new palette tool on your iPad. When you do squeeze it, a new haptic engine offers a small vibration, so it feels like you’ve clicked something in the Pencil. I’m a sucker for haptic feedback, since it offers a tactile experience for devices without dedicated buttons.
Apple Pencil Pro also supports tilting, which previous Apple styluses did not, and offers Find My capabilities, so you can use the Find My app to locate your Pencil if it goes missing (as skinny cylinders are wont to do.)
Connectivity upgrades
The new iPad mini 7 also supports Wi-Fi 6E, which Apple says is up to twice as fast as Wi-Fi 6 on the iPad mini 6. It also supports Bluetooth 5.3, which should offer higher-quality and more reliable connections to wireless devices.
If you ever use a wired connection with your iPad, the mini 7’s USB-C port is also up to two times faster than the mini 6’s, as this USB-C port supports up to 10Gbps transfer speeds. Just make sure you buy the right USB-C cable.
New colors
Apple is swapping out two of the iPad mini 6’s colors for new options this time around. While Space Gray and Starlight are still here, Pink and Purple have been replaced by Blue and a lighter Purple.
A new base storage size
Apple’s iPad mini 6 launched with a paltry 64GB of internal storage. Unless you save all your stuff to the cloud, that’s way too few GB for 2024, let alone for 2021. With the mini 7, Apple is rectifying the situation, and offering 128GB of storage in the base model, for the same $499 starting price.
64GB of storage was always a joke for this tablet, but by far, the biggest flaw with the iPad mini 6 was “jelly scrolling.” One half of this tablet’s display refreshes faster than the other, which results in a subtle jiggle effect as you scroll in portrait orientation. It’s not the most obvious thing in the world, but it is noticeable, and if you’re someone who’s bothered by that sort of thing, you’ll never unsee it.
It’s not clear whether this issue has been fixed with the iPad mini 7, since the device was only announced today. It does seem to use the exact same display with a refresh rate of only 60Hz, so it’s possible this iPad will also have jelly scrolling problems. We won’t know until testers get their hands on it, however.
That’s all, folks
Other than the above changes, that’s really all that’s new here. That A17 processor is really where you’re going to notice the biggest difference, unless you frequently download huge files over wifi, transfer data over USB-C, or want to use the “Pro” Apple Pencil.
Everything else about these iPads is about the same: They’re both identical in form factor and weight, so you would never be able to pick out a Space Gray mini 6 vs. a Space Gray mini 7 out of a lineup. The cameras are the same on both models, although the mini 7 does use some AI features to enhance the process. They both use Touch ID, and have the same dual speakers. In fact, the mini 6 offers a physical SIM slot in addition to eSIM, while the mini 7 only offers eSIM.
Objectively, the iPad mini 7 is the best mini tablet Apple has to offer. That said, for most tasks right now, both tablets are quite capable. If you don’t care about AI features, and can manage with 64GB of storage, you can save yourself $120 right now by buying an iPad mini 6 on Amazon. If you have $500 to burn, but you’d prefer more storage over an upgraded processor, you could get an iPad mini 6 with 256GB.
When does the iPad mini 7 come out?
If you’d prefer the latest and greatest, Apple’s seventh-generation iPad mini launches on Wednesday, Oct. 23. However, you can pre-order the tablet right now through Apple’s website.
You can buy the iPad mini 7 for $499 (128GB), $599 (256GB), and 512GB ($799). If you want the cellular model, which lets you connect your iPad to a paid cellular plan, add an extra $150 to each price point.