After three long years (and a long month) of waiting, Apple has finally unveiled the 7th generation iPad mini. He did so today in a press release rather than at a media event, and the reasons for this distrust become evident when we see how much, or rather how little, has changed.
The main upgrade is the CPU, which went from the A15 to the A17 Pro (but with a 5-core GPU instead of the 6-core GPU of the iPhone 15 Pro). Thanks to this hardware improvement, the new iPad mini supports Apple Intelligence, which likely also means that RAM will increase from 4GB to 8GB, although Apple doesn’t list RAM specs for anything other than the processors of the M series. But it still leaves the mini far behind the iPad Air, which was once its equivalent with a larger screen and which now has two generations of M-class Mac chips.
Beyond the processor upgrade, you have to look pretty hard to spot the changes from the 2021 model:
- It supports the most recent Apple Pencil Pro (including its hover feature) and drops support for the 2nd generation Apple Pencil.
- It starts to 128 GB of storage rather than 64 GB.
- Smart HDR 3 has been upgraded to Smart HDR 4.
- Wi-Fi 6 gets better for Wi-Fi 6E.
- Bluetooth 5.0 is now Bluetooth5.3.
- It is now accompanied by a eSIM onlyand the nano-SIM slot has been removed.
- He always enters space gray, starlightAnd purplebut the pink was replaced by blue. And all the colors are less saturated and less vibrant (because who likes bright colors, right?)
So, to summarize, the physical design is unchanged, meaning we still get a portrait-oriented FaceTime camera instead of the much superior landscape design. The cameras are all identical, although Smart HDR 4 may mean they perform slightly better in difficult lighting conditions. It hasn’t joined the premium iPads for access to the M family of chips, nor for the ability to pay for 1TB of storage. It does not have a Smart Connector or its own Magic Keyboard. Apple even used the same wallpaper in marketing images on its website.
A minor update, then. Hopefully we won’t have to wait three years for the next model. The new iPad mini is available for pre-order now and will ship on Wednesday, October 23. It starts at $499/£499.