iPad mini 7th gen is now official with A17 Pro and Apple Intelligence

Apple chose not to wait for another press event to introduce a new iPad tablet. Following a number of rumours, Apple published a press release saying that a new version of their smaller iPad mini tablet will be released later in October. This will be the first new iPad Mini model since 2021.

Apple's press announcement indicated that the next iPad mini will have an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display. It will also use Apple's in-house A17 Pro processor, which the company claims improves CPU and GPU performance by 30% and 25%, respectively, over the 2021 iPad mini.

The tablet will come preloaded with iPadOS 18, and Apple claims that, like its recently released iPhone 16 handsets, the new iPad mini will receive an OS update to iPadOS 18.1 later in October, which will include the first Apple Intelligence generative AI features.

Other hardware improvements of the new iPad mini include an upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E. The tablet's USB-C connector has also been enhanced, now capable of data transfers at speeds of up to 10Gbps. The tablet will have a 12MP back camera and a 12MP ultrawide front-facing camera sensor.

The iPad mini 2024 edition will start at $499 for the Wi-Fi version with 128GB of onboard storage, and $649 for the Wi-Fi and cellular wireless variant with the same amount of storage. The tablet is also available in 256GB and 512GB storage variants.

It comes in four colours: blue, purple, starlight, and space grey, with a new Smart Folio cover for the tablet available in charcoal grey, light violet, denim, and sage for $59. You can preorder the tablet today through the Apple Store online, and it will be available at Apple Stores and other retail locations on October 23.