Jus over three years on from the iPad mini (2021), Apple has finally revived the little tablet by announcing the new iPad mini 7 – and it packs an A17 Pro chip for Apple Intelligence.
That new chip isn’t the only new feature for the 8.3-inch tablet. Apple has announced two new colors – blue and purple – alongside starlight and space gray – and has beefed up the storage options.
The mini 7 starts with 128GB storage, and there are now 256GB and 512GB options, too. Naturally, it also runs the latest iPadOS 18. You can pre-order the iPad mini 7 from today, with pricing starting at $499 / £499 (for the Wi-Fi model) and $649 / £649 for the Wi-Fi and Cellular model.
Another big bonus for the mini 7 is that it supports the Apple Pencil Pro, making it a tempting little digital notebook for creatives. Apple says that the A17 Pro chip – which debuted in the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max – doubles the speed of the tablet’s Neural Engine compared to the mini 6 and delivers a faster CPU and GPU.
Like before, the iPad mini 7 has a 12MP rear camera, but this time, it’s been upgraded to Smart HDR 4 processing. There’s also now support for Wi-Fi 6E for speedier wireless connectivity.
But the biggest software boosts will come from that Apple Intelligence support, which will be landing fully “later this month” in the US. That includes new AI-powered writing tools in apps like Mail, Notes and third-party apps, plus imaging tricks like Apple’s Clean Up tool.
If you’ve waiting patiently for the iPad mini 7, you can finally order one now from the Apple Store. We’ll bring you our full verdict soon on where the dinky tablet sits in our guide to the best iPads.
Worth waiting for?
(Image credit: Apple)
Considering we were close to giving up on Apple launching a new iPad mini, seeing a refresh of the little tablet is great news – and the new model realistically has everything we could have realistically asked for.
The main benefit is that new A17 Pro chip, which future-proofs it not only for future iPadOS updates but also Apple Intelligence. Even if you’re not particularly blown away by the Apple Intelligence features so far, it was hard to recommend investing in an iPad mini 6 without the spec bump.
The added support for the Apple Pencil Pro is also a welcome bonus. The previous iPad mini (2021) support the Apple Pencil, but the Pencil Pro brings some major benefits for digital artists including a barrel sensor and haptics support. The only downside is that it doesn’t come bundled with the tablet and costs a fairly punchy $129 / £129 / AU$219.
Also, while Apple is promising you’ll get an “all-day battery life” with the iPad mini 7, we don’t yet have an estimate for how long it’ll last. That was a notable weakness with the previous model, so we’re looking forward to testing that out.
Those weaknesses aside, the iPad mini 7 does – on paper – have a strong shout for being the best 8-inch tablet you can buy, and it’s good to see Apple sticking with the format despite the increasing size of the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro.
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