After years of negligence, Apple has finally refreshed the iPad Mini at the iPhone 13 launch event aka California Streaming. This came as a surprise as everyone was expecting a separate Apple event for the iPad refresh.
iPad Mini Specifications
- SoC: A15 Bionic
- Display: 8.3-inch Liquid Retina
- Connectivity: 5G, eSIM, USB-C, WiFi 6
- Front Camera: 12 MP Ultrawide
- Rear Camera: 12MP (Fixed Focus, True Tone LED, Improved Smart HDR)
- 2nd Gen Apple Pencil Support
- No Face ID
The new iPad Mini is packing the new Apple A15 Bionic SoC that gives it a 40% faster CPU and 80% faster GPU than the previous generation. However, given the time it took for the refresh to arrive, this is an expected development. Apple says that the new iPad Mini is 3X faster than the top Chromebooks and 6x faster than the top tier Android tablets.
It now packs an 8.3-inch liquid retina display in the same compact footprint as the previous generation. The display has thin bezels and uses Touch ID to unlock the device. In the camera department, the iPad Mini gets a new Ultrawide capable shooter on the front.
The smallest iPad also gets landscape speakers, a Type-C port, WiFi 6, and 5G cellular. The Type-C port also brings 20-watt fast charging on the iPad Mini. Apple has also added Apple Pencil 2 support and introduced new Smart folio covers in multiple color options.
iPad Mini Price starts at $499 for the GPS model that comes with 64GB of storage onboard. The cellular version starts at $649 in the US. It’s available to order from today in retail stores and online.
This story is developing.
