Apple iPad Mini (2024): Specs, Release Date, Price, Features

The seventh era of Apple’s tiniest iPad is lastly right here, three years since its last refresh. There was no fancy pretaped or reside occasion—the corporate quietly introduced the new tablet by its on-line newsroom. The headline characteristic encapsulating this system? Apple Intelligence. Apple’s synthetic intelligence options nonetheless aren’t accessible for the iPhone 16, however they’re because of arrive this month via iOS 18.1.

Beginning at $499 for the bottom mannequin, the seventh-gen iPad Mini has the identical chassis as its predecessor, however with a couple of upgrades together with a brand new processor, assist for Apple Intelligence, and double the storage. It additionally works with the most recent Apple Pencil Pro. It is available for preorder now and ships October 23.

Courtesy of Apple

It is What’s Inside

The sixth-generation iPad Mini received a significant facelift in 2021, so it isn’t stunning that Apple stored the exterior options the identical on this iteration. This pill packs an 8.3-inch LCD display screen, slim bezels, and a 12-megapixel selfie digital camera, together with a USB-C port (now with 10-Gbps knowledge switch speeds). The rear digital camera has a 12-megapixel sensor with assist for Good HDR 4, an up to date picture processing algorithm with the aptitude to detect and scan paperwork from the Digital camera app (a characteristic we noticed launched again in Might with the M4-powered iPad Pro).

The extra important modifications are inside. Apple upgraded the processor from the A15 (the chipset contained in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro fashions) to an A17 Pro, the exact same that is within the iPhone 15 Professional. With a six-core CPU, the corporate claims it delivers a 30 p.c enhance in CPU efficiency whereas the five-core GPU gives a 25 p.c leap in comparison with the earlier mannequin. In the meantime, the neural engine is twice as quick.

Placing this chip contained in the iPad Mini means it might probably assist Apple Intelligence—a collection of synthetic intelligence instruments coming in iOS 18.1. It makes the iPad Mini the cheapest tablet of the lineup to have these options. Different supported fashions embody the fifth-gen M1 iPad Air, sixth-gen M2 iPad Air, fifth-gen M1 iPad Professional, sixth-gen M2 iPad Professional, and seventh-gen M4 iPad Professional.