After a little over three years with no update, Apple finally updated the iPad mini with a solid plethora of improvements, especially support for Apple Intelligence.
Now based on the A17 Pro chip that was introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro models, the all-new iPad mini is up to 30% faster in CPU performance and up to 25% faster in GPU performance over the previous-generation iPad mini with the A15 chip. The A17 Pro chip inside the iPad mini is based on the more modern 3nm architecture with a 6-core CPU (2 performance/4 efficiency cores) and a 5-core GPU. Given that the new iPad mini now supports Apple Intelligence and that it borrows the same chip from the iPhone 15 Pro, we can expect the new iPad mini to have 8GB of RAM.
Other improvements that Apple added to the iPad mini are Bluetooth 5.3 support, Smart HDR 4 on the rear camera, and support for Apple Pencil Pro. Additionally, thanks to the built-in USB controller on A17 Pro, the new iPad mini’s USB-C port now supports USB 3 transfer speeds up to 10Gb/s. This is a huge step up to from the 5 Gb/s on the previous iPad mini. However, unlike the rest of the iPad lineup, the new iPad mini did not have a landscape front-facing camera as that camera there stayed in the same position as before, most likely that the iPad mini is used in portrait orientation most of the time, and the iPad mini has never had an official Magic Keyboard accessory. The new iPad mini comes in starlight, space gray, and new shades of blue and purple that match those of the updated iPad Air.
The iPad mini (A17 Pro) [as officially identified by Apple in its website] starts at $499 with double the starting storage of 128GB, and it now comes with an all-new storage configuration of 512GB, allowing you to store more apps, movies, and music on the go. Here’s a pricing breakdown for all the iPad mini models:
- Wi-Fi models: (128GB – $499; 256GB – $599; 512GB – $799)
- Wi-Fi + Cellular models: (128GB – $649; 256GB – $749; 512GB – $949)
The tweaked iPad mini Smart Folio is also available for $59 in charcoal gray, light violet, denim, and sage.
The new iPad mini is available to order today, and it’ll arrive in stores starting October 23.
