Apple gave the iPad mini a shock refresh with quicker internals and different minor upgrades. The spotlight is Apple Intelligence assist, bringing Apple’s AI suite of instruments to its smallest iPad.
So, do you have to ditch your iPad mini 6 for these upgrades? Or maintain on to it for one more 12 months or two? Discover out in our iPad mini 7 vs. iPad mini 6 comparability.
iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6 comparability
The iPad mini 7 seems identical to the mannequin it’s changing. There are hardly any seen design variations. Internally, although, Apple’s newest iPad mini packs some key upgrades, together with the swap to a quicker and extra environment friendly A17 Professional chip. This new SoC allows Apple Intelligence assist, placing the brand new iPad mini in the identical league as Apple’s M-series iPad Air and iPad Professional.
However do you have to improve to iPad mini 7 only for Apple Intelligence and a quicker chip?
Desk of contents: iPad mini 7 vs. iPad mini 6 comparability
Design and Show
Picture: Apple
- iPad mini 7: 195.4 x 134.8 x 6.3mm, 293 gms; 8.3-inch Liquid Retina Show, 500 nits SDR brightness, Apple Pencil hover
- iPad mini 6: 195.4 x 134.8 x 6.3mm, 293 gms; 8.3-inch Liquid Retina Show, 500 nits SDR brightness
The iPad mini 7 and mini 6 have the identical dimensions and weight. There’s no distinction right here. So, you get a Contact ID-integrated energy button, a USB-C port on the backside, and landscape-oriented stereo audio system.
Even the show dimension and peak brightness stay unchanged, with Apple utilizing an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina panel on the brand new iPad. There have been rumors that Apple would use a 120Hz ProMotion panel on its subsequent iPad mini, however sadly, that’s not the case.
It’s not confirmed, however presumably Apple is utilizing a newer-gen panel to make sure the iPad mini 7’s show doesn’t endure from jelly scrolling points like its predecessor. We’ll discover out when the primary critiques are revealed.
The one notable show improve is assist for Apple Pencil Professional and Apple Pencil hover. This implies you should use Apple’s latest Apple Pencil with the iPad mini 7 and luxuriate in all its advantages, together with haptic suggestions. It additionally helps Apple Pencil (USB-C). The iPad mini 6 helps Apple Pencil (2nd gen) and the USB-C variant.
iPad mini 7 processor and storage
Picture: Apple
- iPad mini 7: A17 Professional (3nm fab), 6-core CPU, 6-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, devoted AV1 decoder, USB-C controller, second-gen Extremely Wideband chip, as much as 1TB storage
- iPad mini 6: A15 Bionic (5nm fab), 6-core CPU, 4-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, as much as 512GB storage
The largest improve on the iPad mini 7 is the brand new and extra environment friendly A17 Professional chip. It’s a notable step up from the iPad mini 6’s A15 Bionic chip. Apple claims the brand new SoC brings a 30% enhance in CPU and a 25% uplift in GPU efficiency. The Neural Engine can be twice as quick, drastically dashing up AI and machine studying duties.
Because of the quicker chip, the iPad mini 7 helps Apple Intelligence. As soon as iPadOS 18.1 lands, the brand new iPad mini will achieve entry to options like Writing Instruments, pure language picture search, advised replies to Messages and extra. You possibly can take a look at our hands-on with the primary 10 Apple Intelligence options to know what we take into consideration them.
In addition to the brand new A17 Professional SoC, the brand new iPad mini ships with twice the bottom storage as its predecessor. The entry-level mannequin ships with 128GB, with the opposite two choices being 256GB and 512GB. For comparability, the iPad mini 6 shipped with 64GB base storage, with 256GB being the one different variant.
Not like the iPad Professionals, the iPad mini doesn’t have a devoted AV1, ProRes, or video encode/decode engine for quicker video file processing. However players could be happy that it helps hardware-accelerated ray tracing — which is 4x quicker than software-based ray tracing — in addition to assist for Dynamic Caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading.
Entrance and rear cameras
Picture: Apple
- iPad mini 7: 12MP Large digital camera, f/1.8 aperture, True Tone flash, Sensible HDR 4; 4K 60fps video recording, 1080p@240fps sluggish movement; 12MP Extremely Large digital camera, f/2.4 aperture, Middle Stage, Sensible HDR 4
- iPad mini 6: 12MP Large digital camera, f/1.8 aperture, True Tone flash, Sensible HDR 3; 4K 60fps video recording, 1080p@240fps sluggish movement; 12MP Extremely Large digital camera, f/2.4 aperture, Middle Stage, Sensible HDR 3
Regardless of launching three years later, the iPad mini 7 packs the identical digital camera as its predecessor. You get a 12MP shooter on the rear and one other 12MP digital camera on the entrance. The one notable improve is Sensible HDR 4 assist, which ought to enhance dynamic vary and assist enhance the general picture high quality.
Connectivity
Picture: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac
- iPad mini 7: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 5G, Gigabit LTE, eSIM, USB-C
- iPad mini 6: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, 5G, Gigabit LTE, nano-SIM, eSIM, USB-C
The iPad mini 7 brings two vital connectivity upgrades, supporting the quicker Wi-Fi 6E normal and Bluetooth 5.3. In comparison with the iPad mini 6’s Wi-Fi 6, the brand new Wi-Fi normal delivers increased bandwidth and improved throughput. Different iPads in Apple’s lineup additionally assist Wi-Fi 6E, with solely the iPhone 16 sequence that includes Wi-Fi 7 compatibility.
One other minor change is that the iPad mini 7 doesn’t have a devoted nanoSIM slot. As a substitute, it solely works with eSIM.
Value
- iPad mini 7: Begins from $499; $649 for mobile variant
- iPad mini 6: Began from $499; $649 for mobile variant
Even with a quicker processor, twice the bottom storage, and quicker connectivity, the iPad mini 7 retains the identical value as its predecessor. So, Apple’s latest iPad mini offers much more bang for the buck than the iPad mini 6. Now you can additionally configure the machine with as much as 512GB of storage, which could be helpful should you use the iPad mini as a laptop computer substitute.
iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6 conclusion: Not an improve it’s best to make
Barring the above adjustments, the iPad mini 7 is similar to the iPad mini 6. You get the identical array of sensors, shade choices, panorama stereo audio system, and so forth. The improve to a quicker A17 Professional chip is a giant one, particularly because it brings Apple Intelligence assist.
However this alone just isn’t a ok purpose to ditch your iPad mini 6 and improve to the newer mannequin. The adjustments are too minor in any other case to warrant an improve. Until you are feeling Apple Intelligence can considerably enhance your iPad workflow, look forward to the subsequent iPad mini refresh.
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iPad mini 7: Apple