At 5.4mm thick, the iPad Mini is thinner and lighter than its predecessor. It also has bezels that are 24 percent thinner. This allows the device to maintain the same small form factor with a slightly larger screen than the previous generation’s 8.3-inch display. The iPad Mini offers a maximum brightness of up to 1,200 nits, along with a minimum brightness of 1 nit that could make it easier on the eyes in low-light areas. The new device does not yet come with Apple’s ProMotion technology for smoother scrolling, as the technical specifications say that it supports up to 4K resolution with a 60Hz refresh rate. In addition to an OLED display, the new iPad Mini features an updated A20 Pro chip capable of running AI models on the device. This enables support for some of Apple’s new Siri AI features, including the ability to modify the expressiveness and rhythm of the assistant’s voice. Although models with 128 GB or 256 GB of storage come with a 5-core CPU with 2 super cores and 3 efficiency cores, Apple added two additional cores with the 512 GB model, which offers a 6-core CPU with 2 super cores and 4 efficiency cores. All models come with a 16-core Neural Engine. Additionally, Apple says the iPad Mini comes with a new “Display Acoustics,” which it describes as including “specially designed woofers” that are “paired across the display to produce stronger bass and more volume.” It also has custom tweeters between the glass and aluminum casing of the device “for clearer highs.” Some other updates include a 12MP front camera that is now on the long edge of the iPad Mini, making it easier to video call in landscape orientation. It has an IP67 rating for protection against water and dust, plus Apple’s next-generation C2 cellular modem and internal N1 networking chip. Apple promises up to 10 hours of battery life when watching videos or browsing the Internet over Wi-Fi. This new iPad Mini follows Apple’s seventh-generation version released in 2024, which arrived three years after the sixth-generation model in 2021. That seventh-generation iPad Mini, which started at $499, was mostly a spec bump, with the A17 Pro chip, support for the Apple Pencil Pro, and an upgrade to 128GB of base storage. In his review, David Pierce called it a “new low for the product” that “feels like an iPad designed by a supply chain, not by someone who actually wants to like the product.” Pre-orders for the new iPad Mini begin on Wednesday, October 28, and will be available on November 6. The iPad Mini is available in “midnight” and “starlight” colors, along with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB configurations. There’s also an option for a nano-texture screen that reduces glare.
