Apple iPad mini (7th generation) review: The little iPad you can do

Apple iPad mini (7th generation) review

Note: This review was first published on October 22, 2024.

Lack of Apple intelligence

The new iPad mini is a difficult product to review. This is not just a spec update, but also because its highlight feature, Apple Intelligence, is not available at the time of writing. Apple Intelligence aside, should owners of the previous generation iPad mini upgrade? Or should they hold back or look for another iPad? See if you can find the answers to these questions. Sho.

TL;DR version:

The new iPad mini is a great little tablet, but owners of previous-generation iPad minis should check whether they really want or need Apple Intelligence before deciding to upgrade.

Note: You can find the new iPad mini on Lazada, Shopee, and Apple Online Store.

It’s nearly impossible to tell the new 7th generation iPad mini from the old iPad mini. The dimensions and weight are almost the same, and the finish is almost the same. The only way to tell is if it’s blue in color. That’s because blue is a new finish for the 7th generation iPad mini, replacing pink. You can also get the new iPad mini in Space Gray, Starlight, and Purple.

It looks like the display hasn’t changed at all. it is 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display 2,266 x 1,488 pixel resolution, 500 nits maximum brightness, and P3 color space support. The colors and clarity are great, but in some ways it’s dated. The main reason is that it’s not as bright as some newer iPads and has a refresh rate of just 60Hz. When it comes to refresh rates, the new iPad mini’s display continues to suffer from the jelly-like scrolling effect seen on the previous generation iPad mini. Watch the video below.

If you’re not familiar with the phrase “jelly scrolling,” it refers to the erratic scrolling behavior of your iPad mini’s display, especially when in portrait mode. When scrolling vertically, the left half of the display appears to update slightly slower than the right half. This effect is also present, albeit to a lesser extent, on the new iPad mini. Watch the video above.

The big invisible change is the processor. The new iPad mini has an A17 Pro chip inside. If you’ve been following developments closely, you’ll know that as far as Apple’s smartphone chips go, the A17 Pro is the bare minimum needed to support Apple Intelligence. In fact, Apple touts its latest iPad mini as “built for Apple Intelligence” in its marketing materials.

Unfortunately, I think most readers already know this. Apple Intelligence is not yet available. And for now, all we know is that it’s coming in an update sometime next month. As I said before, Don’t buy devices based on promises of future updatesTherefore, we will evaluate the iPad mini as is, without using Apple Intelligence. We will update this review when Apple Intelligence becomes available.

Getting back to the A17 Pro, one thing to know is that this is not exactly the same chip used in last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. The phone was powered by A17 Pro chip with 6-core GPU. Meanwhile, the iPad mini’s A17 Pro chip has a 5-core GPU. The CPU is the same, with 6 cores consisting of 2 high-performance cores and 4 efficiency cores.

Apple claims that the new iPad mini’s CPU and GPU performance are up to 30% and 25% faster, respectively, but these claims are entirely on point and perhaps a bit conservative. As you can see from the benchmark results on page 2, the new iPad mini scores significantly better than its predecessor. In fact, in some cases, the new iPad mini’s scores were comparable to those of the previous generation iPad Air, which had an M1 chip. In other words, its performance is top-notch.

What this means is that the iPad mini can run just about any app you throw at it. It’s only with heavily graphics-intensive titles like Genshin that you start to see the limits.. Despite the more powerful chip and unchanged battery capacity, the new iPad mini lasted just as long as its predecessor in our battery tests. In my experience, it easily lasts several days with on and off use.

There are several other benefits to switching to the A17 Pro chip. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 support improves connectivity, USB-C port is now twice as fastit supports data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps, making it very convenient for transferring files. Photos taken using the camera (12MP, also unchanged) can also benefit from the A17 Pro’s more advanced Smart HDR 4 image processing.

Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t released any keyboard accessories for the new iPad mini. Instead, New iPad mini supports new Apple Pencil Proannounced earlier this year along with the M4 iPad Pro. This new pencil supports a new squeeze gesture and allows users to perform barrel roll actions thanks to an internal gyroscope. Don’t underestimate the barrel roll feature, which comes in handy when you’re using a pen shaped like a highlighter. This is a very easy to use stylus pen. The only problem is that it’s quite expensive at S$199. Also note that the new iPad mini does not work with the 2nd generation Apple Pencil.

One of the most interesting things about the new iPad mini is its price. The base model costs S$50 less and unbelievably comes with twice the storage. iPad mini is available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB of storage. The price of the 256GB model has also been reduced by S$130. I can’t believe I’m typing these words right now, but the iPad mini is more affordable and a better value than ever.

Buying advice and final words

If you already own a last-generation iPad mini, the answer is probably no. You don’t need the A17 Pro’s improved performance to browse the web, answer emails, play games, or catch up on shows. The last iPad mini, the A15 Bionic, does just that perfectly. In fact, perhaps the only thing the new iPad mini can do that the previous iPad mini couldn’t do is Apple Intelligence.

In fact, the main reason to update is Apple Intelligence. However, since we are unable to test it, we cannot currently determine whether it is worth upgrading. Remember when I said this new iPad mini was difficult to review? Here’s why.

My main issue with the iPad mini is that the display is starting to look outdated and really needs an upgrade. A brighter display with a higher refresh rate would have been very welcome. But given the capabilities of the rest of the device, this isn’t a big issue. This may be a significant spec update, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s a great little tablet.. It’s compact, portable, high-performance, and a bit affordable. If you don’t have an iPad mini, or if you’ve been eyeing one for a while, now is the perfect time to get one.

Note: You can find the new iPad mini on Lazada, Shopee, and Apple Online Store.