The iPad mini has been given a new lease of life with the release of the sixth generation tablet in 2021, offering a substantial upgrade over what came before it.
In addition to an improved 8.3-inch screen in the same form factor as its predecessor, the iPad mini 6 sports a refined design similar to that of the iPad Air and iPad Pro, as well as the performance of the A15 Bionic and support for the second generation. Apple Pencil.
It’s a great tablet, but the upcoming seventh generation will likely be a more minor update. Here’s everything you need to know about its potential release date, price, and key specs.
When will the new iPad mini be released?
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, known for his reliable reporting on Apple, suggests in a Bloomberg article that the new iPads will likely debut around the week of May 6. However, this only applies to the iPad Air and iPad Pro.
Gurman says Apple is working on a new iPad mini, but that it “won’t arrive until the end of the year at the earliest.” This opens the possibility that it could even be delayed until 2025. The same approximate release window is also planned for a new version of the standard iPad.
For context, here’s when the latest generations were launched:
- iPad mini 6: September 2021
- iPad mini 5: March 2019
- iPad mini 4: September 2015
There’s no real model regarding the release schedule, so it could theoretically happen at any time.
How much will the new iPad mini cost?
The iPad mini was once one of the more affordable options in Apple’s tablet collection, but that all changed with the iPad mini 6. Here’s how much it cost at launch:
- iPad mini 6 (Wi-Fi, 64GB) – £479/$499
- iPad mini 6 (Wi-Fi, 256GB) – £619/$649
- iPad mini 6 (Wi-Fi + cellular, 64GB) – £619/$649
- iPad mini 6 (Wi-Fi + cellular, 256GB) – £759/$799
Apple is unlikely to cut prices closer to the iPad mini 5’s $399/£399 anytime soon. But further price increases are also unlikely, especially if the improvements are minor.
However, we could see UK prices reduced to match US figures, as we’ve seen on some other Apple products – so $499/£499, instead of $499/£569.
What specs and features will the new iPad mini have?
There are a lot of leaks and rumors about what to expect from the iPad mini 7. We expect the new iPad mini to feature a more impressive processor, as well as some small internal improvements.
Design
With such a radical redesign on the sixth-generation iPad mini, it’s unlikely that Apple will implement any notable design changes on the next-generation tablet – especially considering that, aside from the iPad entry-level, all iPhones and iPads share the same design. language.
That’s not to say we wouldn’t like to see changes made to the small-screen tablet. While the 8.3-inch iPad mini 6 offers a significantly improved design with thin bezels, a lightweight form factor, and the move to USB-C, there’s one big omission: a smart connector.
The Smart Connector is available on the iPad Air and both variants of the iPad Pro, providing a way to connect Apple’s superior Magic Keyboard to turn the iPad into something that looks like a traditional laptop, but it is not present on the iPad mini 6. This leaves the small multi-screen tablet at a disadvantage compared to the almost identical iPad Air.
So while it’s not confirmed, we’d like to see a Smart Connector (and the accompanying Magic Keyboard) on the iPad mini 7.
The iPad mini is currently available in Space Gray, Pink, Purple, and Starlight. It’s likely that it will adopt some of the colors introduced in the 2021 iPad Air redesign, like silver, rose gold, green, and sky blue.
With the bold color choices of the 10th generation iPad, the iPad mini could see a new palette. However, the iPhone 15’s introduction of light colors leaves some uncertainty about Apple’s direction regarding iPad mini color options.
Display
According to a Korean forum post (shared on Twitter by @FronTron), the iPad mini’s 8.3-inch screen will be upgraded with 120Hz ProMotion support.
We know what you’re thinking: This makes absolutely no sense if this is a standard iPad mini and not an iPad mini Pro, and I would generally agree. ProMotion is certainly a feature that Apple associates with Pro-level products, appearing on the iPad Pro, iPhone 13 Pro, and MacBook Pro, so introducing it to a non-pro iPad would muddy the waters.
However, it all comes down to one problem: jelly scrolling. Jelly scrolling was a hot topic during the iPad mini 6 launch, with some users noticing a slight delay in the screen refresh rate when scrolling, which created a wobbly jelly-like effect .
Contrary to popular belief, this is normal behavior for LCD screens. LCD panels update row by row, and there is a small delay between when the top and bottom rows are refreshed.
However, this is more noticeable on the iPad mini 6 than on most other small LCD screens, and while this hasn’t been officially acknowledged by Apple, it’s something that many users have noticed, including this author. It’s also something that would be virtually imperceptible to the naked eye if the refresh rate increased from 60Hz to 120Hz.
However, analyst Ross Young suggested this would not happen in June 2022:
We think it’s also possible that Apple could offer an interim 90Hz display on the small-screen tablet, but that’s just speculation at this point. And there probably won’t be any changes from the current 8.3-inch screen size.
Furthermore, Apple is also reportedly developing an iPad with a foldable screen, but it is unlikely that it will be implemented in this model.
Performance
We can assume that the next iPad mini will be more powerful than the current tablet, but it is not yet clear which chipset it will feature.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said in April 2024 that “the iPad mini update won’t include much more than a processor upgrade.” In January 2022, Ming-Chi Kuo also stated that the new processor will be “the main selling point”, which suggests that little will change on the next-generation tablet.
At the time, Kuo didn’t specify the processor, but it is now expected to feature the A16 chip, similar to the one found in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 models. The rumor comes from the same Korean forum post mentioned above , which suggests that Apple is working on an iPad mini with the same A15 Bionic as the existing iPad mini, but at an increased clock speed of 3.23 GHz.
You see, although the iPad mini shares the same A15 Bionic as the iPhone 13 series, its clock speed is slower – 2.9GHz versus 3.2GHz – and that leads to a slight decrease in performance compared to side by side.
The new A15 Bionic’s increased clock speed could offer a performance boost over the existing iPad mini without Apple having to manufacture more of its (presumably more complex) next-generation chipset. This would be accompanied by the same 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage as the current model.
However, it would be wise for Apple to upgrade it to at least 8GB/128GB, considering challenging higher quality cameras and software. Likewise, increasing the maximum storage to 512 GB would make sense, especially if the base storage increases to 128 GB.
The original post mentions an iPad mini Pro, not the seventh generation tablet, so the above could apply to an interim Pro-focused iPad mini released between now and the release of the iPad mini 7. This could also be right a rumor, so take this one with a big pinch of salt.
Elsewhere, we’re also hoping for improvements to cameras, battery life and charging speeds, but there are no rumors about this so far.
We will update this article once again. In the meantime, check out our guides to the best iPads and best tablets.
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