Having kept iPad Mini fans waiting for an update since 2021, Apple quietly announced a new version of its small tablet a few weeks ago. The new iPad Mini caps off a busy few months for Apple and its tablet lineup, which saw updated models of the iPad Pro and iPad Air launch earlier this year. We’ve been testing the new iPad Mini over the past few weeks. Please read the review.
Let’s start with the obvious. The new iPad Mini looks exactly like the previous iPad Mini. That’s not a bad thing. Apple completely revamped the design of its smallest tablet in 2021, removing the physical home button and giving it a right-angled corner to coincide with the launch of the iPad Mini 6. The result is a sleeker looking tablet similar to the iPad Pro. All of these design updates carry over to the 2024 iPad Mini 7. It has the same 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and matching bezel as its predecessor, measures 7.69 inches x 5.3 inches tall and wide, and weighs the same 0.65 pounds (293 grams). The only noticeable difference between the 2021 and 2024 models is that the latter has new “iPad Mini” branding on the back, while the former simply says “iPad.”
Comparison of iPad Mini 2021 (top) and iPad Mini 2024 (bottom). [Photo: Felix Young]
Other than a slightly lighter shade of space gray, the only visible difference between the 2021 and 2024 (right) iPad Minis is the branding on the back. [Photo: Felix Young]
So what has changed? Now, when it comes to the new iPad Mini, it’s what’s inside that really matters. The most notable upgrade is the new processor, with Apple opting to use the A17 Pro chipset. If this sounds familiar, the A17 Pro is actually Apple’s latest chipset, albeit more recent, as it’s the same chipset that was in last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Not. Nevertheless, the overall processing power of the device has increased significantly. Apple says the new chip is about “30%” faster than its predecessor, and while we can’t quantify the usability, it should make the new iPad Mini noticeably smoother when running and switching. I can say that it has become. Multiple apps. There was no lag when using heavy apps like Adobe’s Premiere Pro or Lightroom. I’ve been happily using the Mini for editing on the go these past few days. I also found that I could easily use notoriously CPU-hungry apps like Google Chrome, even with 23 tabs open at the time of writing. All in all, Apple’s “30%” claim seems spot on.
Apart from the above, the biggest improvement that can be attributed to the A17 Pro chip was experienced during gaming. Our thoughts can be summarized as follows. The new iPad Mini is the best small gaming tablet you can buy today. Gaming on this device is pure fun. The screen is large enough to look appealing across a variety of titles and genres, reproduces colors very well, and the onboard stereo speakers sound great with warm, clear, and balanced tones. . Naturally, the headphones took things up a notch, providing a more immersive experience. Even though the device’s maximum brightness reaches 500 nits and the iPad’s LCD display holds up well under the afternoon light of a fall day, gaming outdoors was even a pleasant surprise. Generally speaking, the LCD screen performed better than our expectations, even if we were hoping for an OLED display (maybe Apple is next?). That said, it didn’t really stand out, even though it didn’t have an OLED display and lacked the benefits you usually get from OLED (like deeper blacks and better contrast). This is probably due to the small size of the screen, which is sufficient for most use cases.
Thanks to the iPad’s upgraded processor, you can expect consistent 60 frames per second in Call of Duty: Mobile. [Photo: Felix Young]
Some of the games we tested on this new iPad Mini include first-person shooters like Call of Duty: Mobile, which maximizes the display’s 60Hz refresh rate to deliver a consistently smooth 60 frames per second; There was Alien: Isolation, which was much slower. And it gave us a more atmospheric experience to see what the iPad Mini’s LCD display can do in low-light conditions. Both games were incredibly fun to play on the 8.3-inch display, and especially when combined with GameSir’s telescoping controller, it felt like I had invented a new handheld console. Mobile gaming has come a long way in the last few years, but until recently it felt like Apple wasn’t embracing it. game Too serious about that device. The Android platform has always offered a much larger library of mobile games, but we expect the potential performance of the new iPad Mini to encourage more developers to work on Apple ports of their games. So while we’re happy to say this 2024 iPad Mini is the best small tablet available for gaming, it does come with the caveat that it’s limited by the libraries available in the Apple App Store.
Apple has also doubled the RAM in the new iPad Mini, giving it 8GB instead of 4GB in previous models. This, combined with the new and improved processor, resulted in better performance overall, but one of the main reasons for the increase in RAM is something we weren’t able to fully test. It is an initiative in the field of AI under the brand Apple Intelligence. . Apple Intelligence is starting to roll out in the US, but won’t fully arrive in the UK until December, so we’re here in our London office reviewing the new iPad Mini.
The new iPad comes standard with 128GB of storage, double the previous generation’s 64GB, with the other two options being 256GB and 512GB. This is a welcome change considering 64GB fills up quickly. Another improvement is the inclusion of Wi-Fi 6E (not Wi-Fi 6) for faster, more stable connections, bringing iPad Mini on par with the flagship iPad Pro M4. Masu. Conversely, a connectivity-related change that I would like to revert if possible is the removal of the SIM card tray on cellular models. This means your iPad Mini will only be able to use an eSIM. While this will only be frustrating for some readers (given that most carriers have moved to eSIM), it’s one of the things that makes the 2021 iPad Mini such a great travel tablet. It had the ability to accept physical SIMs. It’s possible to buy a temporary local plan while on vacation and stay connected for the duration of your stay, given that most “pay-as-you-go” or “SIM-only” plans are generally available as traditional physical SIM cards. And now this can be even more difficult.
iPad Mini is now compatible with Pencil Pro. [Photo: Felix Young]
Apple’s smallest tablet is now compatible with Pencil Pro, bringing its advanced features to life on this tiny screen. Editing in Photoshop or Lightroom, for example, feels more intuitive thanks to the Pencil Pro’s hover feature, which allows you to preview on-screen where the stylus will touch down. I’ve found it to be most effective when smaller, more detailed edits are required, such as when retouching images. The new Mini is still compatible with the old Pencil, but there’s probably no going back.
There’s not much to say about the iPad Mini’s camera. It’s very basic, but it works well enough. There is one 12-megapixel wide camera on the back and one 12-megapixel ultra-wide selfie camera on the front. Both are fully capable of capturing everyday content and are good for video calls, but don’t expect the same results you’ll get with Apple’s latest iPhone 16 Pro, for example. What’s a bit annoying is the placement of the front camera, which remains centered on the short side of the tablet. This is fine for calls in portrait orientation, but if you want to use this iPad to take calls in landscape orientation like a laptop, you’ll have to put up with a slightly awkward angle caused by this camera placement. However, the iPad Mini has Center Stage, Apple’s software that uses AI to center you in the frame, which alleviates the problem slightly.
The iPad Mini is one of the most niche products in Apple’s current lineup, and also one of the most underrated. It’s too small for some people and doesn’t have enough processing power for others. But it fills a gap in the market, and no tablet of this size can match it in terms of performance and build quality. Overall, there aren’t a lot of changes between the new iPad Mini and its predecessor (2021), but it’s twice the RAM, twice the base-level storage, and big enough to make a difference in the areas that matter. This is a change. Significant increases in processing power, faster Wi-Fi, Pencil Pro compatibility, the introduction of Apple Intelligence, and more. It’s not an iPad for everyone, but it’s probably the most fun iPad.
The new iPad Mini is now available in four colors, including two new colors, blue and purple, and three storage options starting at $499.
