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Well, that was unexpected, wasn’t it? We now have a brand-new iPad mini, by way of a cheeky little press release on Apple’s website, and a fully updated product page.
This isn’t being referred to as the ‘iPad mini 7’ by Apple, but it is the seventh generation of the tiny tablet so many of us have been waiting for.
My full iPad Mini 7 review is here
I say “so many of us”, but I should confirm that I have no real way of quantifying that. I’ve been living in an iPad mini bubble since 2021, thanks to the boatload of content I’ve published about it. As such, I get a slightly skewed view of how popular Apple’s smallest iPad is, and it’s easy to get carried away, as a result. Nevertheless, I firmly believed Apple needed to make the iPad Mini 7.
The big question is: has Apple delivered with the new iPad mini? And the second big question is: were we expecting too much? I think I’m already getting to the bottom of this (and yes, my full review of the new iPad mini will arrive next week).
The new iPad mini
Apple makes it pretty clear what the main selling point is for the new iPad mini on the refreshed product webpage.
Apple Intelligence. Because, of course it is.
The new iPad mini is compatible with Apple Intelligence because it’s powered by the A17 Pro chip. This is the same silicon that you’ll find inside the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max (6-month review here), and it’s quite a step up from the A15 Bionic that powers the sixth generation iPad mini (and a country mile from the A12 Bionic powering the one before that).
There are new storage tiers. Gone is the vastly outdated 64GB entry-level, which has been replaced with 128GB. The 256GB option remains, but there’s now a new top-tier model with 512GB. Good moves all round, in my book; the more Apple moves away from low storage tiers, the happier most buyers are going to be.
The new iPad mini is compatible with two Apple Pencils – the USB-C version, and the Apple Pencil Pro, which was introduced with the M4 iPad Pro lineup earlier this year. This means the second-generation Apple Pencil won’t work with the new iPad mini, but the trade-off is a far more capable stylus with the mesmerising pinch gesture.
Curious about the latest Apple accessories?
Read our article featuring the 2024 Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro.
Under the hood, there are a few more subtle tweaks including faster Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity and Bluetooth 5.3.
As you’d expect, we get new colours – although it should be noted that they’re the same as last time, just a far more subtle shade and very reminiscent of the iPad Air colourways.
Until I get my hands on the seventh-generation iPad mini (and Apple Intelligence), I can’t comment on the impact of the changes above, but I can comment on what we didn’t get.
What we didn’t get
From what we can tell (and I must reserve judgement until I get the new device in my hands), the display on the new iPad mini is identical to the iPad mini 6. That means the same refresh rate, brightness, and sharpness. It also potentially means that it will exhibit the same ‘jelly scrolling’ artefact that users have complained about.
A lack of a high refresh rate display on a £500 Apple tablet isn’t unusual – look at the iPad Air. Equally, look at the new iPhone 16; Apple still doesn’t deem it fit to include such display technology in their regular, non-Pro products. The question remains: does the largest proportion of iPad mini buyers even know what a display refresh rate is? I’m not convinced they do, but I do think Apple needs to find another way of differentiating the Pro models.
Jelly scrolling? It has never bothered me. If you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about, jelly scrolling is another term for ‘screen tearing’, which is where text or images on one side of the screen appear higher or lower, as though it is tilted. You can spot it on the iPad mini 6 if you hold the device in portrait orientation, and scroll up and down on a text-heavy website. In everyday use, you don’t notice it (and it disappears when you’re using the device in landscape orientation). Still, I understand why it bothers some.
The absence of a newer display on the seventh generation iPad mini is joined by what looks like an identical design – the same dimensions, bezel size, and button placement. While we’re on the latter, I should note that TouchID remains – there’s no FaceID on the new iPad mini.
Lastly, and most importantly from my perspective, there’s no mini Magic Keyboard. I can forgive Apple all of the above, but the absence of a mini version of the brilliant keyboard case that’s available for the rest of the iPad lineup is super frustrating.
Although, maybe that’s just me. Which brings me to my next point.
Why didn’t we get it?
None of us know what’s going on behind the scenes at Apple when it comes to exact shipping numbers for each and every iPad that’s currently on sale. I’ve often wondered how popular the iPad mini is. Why did it take so long to update it? And why, when it finally was updated, did they choose to essentially undertake a mild spec bump?
No new display. No FaceID. No redesigned chassis. No mini Magic Keyboard.
All of that stuff requires investment in research, development, and tooling, and if there’s one thing we know about Tim Cook, it’s that he knows how to sail a tight ship in that regard. It’s why Apple’s current market capitalisation is $3.5 trillion. There are many shareholders that need satisfying, and a stock price which requires delicate monitoring. Is Apple really going to risk that kind of thing by continually pushing out significant updates to products that only a select few buyers actually want?
Of course they’re not. You wouldn’t either, if you were in Tim’s position.
Since publishing my reaction video to the iPad mini 7 news yesterday, I’ve seen countless comments from people who claim that FaceID, ProMotion, and a fix for jelly scroll are “top requests”. How do they know that? Have they conducted in-depth customer research on behalf of Apple? Of course they haven’t – they’ve just got lost in the comments sections of fanboy iPad mini videos, like I have (and like I’ve made!).
We don’t know what people are asking Apple for when it comes to the iPad mini – or if they’re asking for anything at all, for that matter. I’d guess there’s a great many iPad mini 5 owners out there today who are delighted with the news of a new tablet to replace their beloved-yet-ageing, slow, and physical button-infested iPad mini. The fact it’s compatible with this fancy new Apple Intelligence thing is just the icing on the cake.
One must take into consideration the iPad Air, too. If Apple had added all of the stuff noted earlier, and chucked an M4 chip into the iPad mini, that makes it a far more tantalising proposition than the iPad Air. It would also make it much more expensive. Is Apple going to cannibalise sales of the iPad Air with the iPad mini? Of course not – I’d imagine the former is a far bigger seller for them.
Find out why the iPad Mini 6 is still a great buy
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been one of those voices crying out for a big update to the iPad mini over the last couple of years, but this week’s iPad mini 7 announcement was a sudden injection of reality.
Were we in fact after a completely new product? An iPad mini Pro? If so, once again, is Apple really going to unleash something that so few people probably want?
Final thought (for now)
I never review products before they’re released, so I’m reserving judgement on the new iPad mini until I get one in my hands. Stay tuned for that full review but, in the meantime, feel free to comment below with your thoughts on this latest news from Apple.
Before you go
