My favorite iPad just got these very welcome upgrades

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I’ve got quite a soft spot for the iPad mini tablet. So it’s great news that Apple has given it a real boost, with the A17 Pro chip from the iPhone 15 Pro (up from the previous A15 Bionic). And that means it’ll be compatible with Apple Intelligence as those features drop onto devices in the coming months.

There’s also twice the storage that came with the iPad mini previously. It now starts at 128GB, another very welcome upgrade, as well as Wi-Fi 6E support and compatibility with the latest Apple Pencil Pro as well as the confusingly-named Apple Pencil (USB-C) – check out our guide to the different Apple Pencils. It’s also now compatible with Apple Pencil Hover, so you can hover over the display.

I tend to use the iPad mini regularly on short personal trips as an alternative to my iPad Pro, which I tend to take away for work (as well as a laptop). I also find it very useful when I need to take a smaller bag, such as if I’m going to a match where you’re not able to take a bag in that’s larger than A4.

Despite the new features, this 7th generation iPad mini is just an upgrade to the redesigned version debuted in September 2021. The screen size is the same at 8.3in and the display tech, too. So there’s no 120Hz ProMotion, for example – like the standard iPhone 16 it’s still stuck at 60Hz.

That’s a shame, but then the iPad mini has always occupied a bit of a strange spot between the high-end and the standard iPads; even now it has a higher-end chip than the standard models, but lacks a lot what makes an iPad Pro into an iPad Pro like Face ID and doesn’t have the M-Series chips of either the iPad Air or iPad Pro.

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It’s available in a new lighter blue and purple as well as starlight (cream) and space gray. Pricing is set at the same as the older model, which is from $499/£499 for Wi-Fi and $649/£649 for Wi-Fi and Cellular (yes a bit more of a premium than the more usual $100/£100). The cellular model is a bit steep in my book (coincidentally, it’s now eSIM only) but the Wi-Fi model remains very good value indeed…

Which iPad is best for you?

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.