Apple’s iPad mini is a beloved product. It’s enjoyed by hard-core Apple fans, newcomers to the iPad, and casual users alike. The former want Apple to push it further and make it even more capable. The latter want it to be more affordable and better value for money. Does the iPad mini, now in its 7th generation, satisfy either of those goals? Here’s my review after a month of testing, broken down into design, hardware, and software.
Design ✨
The new iPad mini is a beautiful piece of hardware. It feels solid in your hand and its really well made. The mechanical features such as buttons and cameras feel well placed. The display is expansive for a compact device. And it feels like a solid, functional design. This 7th generation model remains mostly unchanged from its predecessor. Save for some new colour options. But that isn’t a negative, it’s a great design. And if you don’t yet have an iPad mini or are upgrading from the 5th generation or older, this will feel fresh and new.
The iPad mini is made of aerospace grade aluminium. It feels premium and cool to the touch. The front display is made of aluminosilicate glass which is durable and resists daily wear and tear. The power button is covered in a sapphire crystal lens to protect the fingerprint sensor as it the rear camera lens. There are grills at the top and bottom of the device (or left and right depending on how you’re holding it) that house the stereo speakers. I didn’t find that my hands obscure the speakers too much and I found reaching the buttons including the metal volume buttons easy.
There are no antenna bands on my wifi unit which is nice! My non-cellular iPad Pro M4 does have antenna bands. So it’s nice that the mini has an uninterrupted rear case. The polished Apple logo, which per teardown, is removable and seems to serve as a passthrough for wireless signals instead. Nice! There’s one small plastic window for attaching the Apple Pencil Pro and keeping it charged. It’s colour matched to the iPad an unobtrusive.
This year’s mini isn’t a big overhaul as far as design is concerned. But that’s ok. The 6th generation was and is a great design. Apple didn’t really need to make too many changes to the aesthetics in my opinion. It still feels fresh and modern. Functionally the design is rock solid too.
Hardware 🛠️
Audio 🎵
This new iPad mini has stereo speakers like its predecessor. They’re about as loud as an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Though I’d say a touch more ‘tinny’ sounding. That said this device is about half the price of Apple’s flagship phone. The speakers sound good and are a big upgrade compared to older generations of iPad mini such as the 5th gen. For playing movies and YouTube videos they’re great at home or in a small space. They’re fine in spaces like coffee shops. Though I imagine most people will probably use headphones in public places anyway.
There are dual microphones on board for calls, FaceTime and video recording. They’e great. In FaceTime calls it picked up my voice really well and the callers found that my voice was crisp and clear. This is a great device for a quick video call or audio call. Supported by more than capable speakers and microphones.
Battery 🔋
Apple still lists the iPad mini as having 10 hours of battery life for wireless web browsing. Or 9 hours on a cellular connection. In my testing that was about accurate. In typical use I find that my iPad mini drains by about 10% per hour of use. But it does depend on the task. If I’m gaming or jumping between multiple apps, battery life will take a hit. Especially for live service games like PUBG mobile. I tested PUBG using the highest possible graphics settings. And when doing so the battery drained at about 15-20% per 45 minute long match.
For video playback I found battery life to be consistent with Apple’s wireless web claims. Especially when watching content in apps like YouTube, Netflix or Apple TV+ where the streaming codecs are highly optimised. But watching content in social media apps like Instagram, seemed to use a bit more battery life. That might be more to do with Instagram and how it handles video playback than the iPad itself. Instagram isn’t an optimised iPad app, it’s a stretched up iPhone app unfortunately. Perhaps that lack of optimisation explains the battery drain. Still, it’s worth noting.
Camera 📷
The cameras are surprisingly capable. They aren’t going to match up to Apple’s latest iPhone models. But they’re more than good enough for a tablet where cameras tend to be less of a priority. The rear camera this year gets Apple’s smart HDR 4 thanks to the faster processor. Photos are sharp and crisp and 4K60 videos look great. The main camera is a 12 megapixel sensor with a 5 element lens, True Tone flash and an ƒ/1.8 aperture. It also has 5x digital zoom and auto image stabilisation. No optical zoom or optical image stabilisation. But again that’s absolutely fine for an iPad. It doesn’t need spec leading cameras. It does what it needs to do for most people. That’s stuff like document scanning or grabbing a quick video at family get togethers.
The front camera is also a 12 megapixel sensor. But it’s an ultra wide lens ideal for video calling and supports Apple’s Centre Stage feature. Centre Stage keeps you in the middle of the frame and automatically adjusts if other people enter the frame too. It has an ƒ/2.4 aperture and can record video in 1080p at 60 frames per second. Again more than good enough for an iPad and doing video calls. It’s a better camera than can be found even in many of Apple’s more expensive Mac computers. It even has a ‘flash’ by using the iPad mini’s screen to flash in a bright, colour matches hue to illuminate your face as you take a selfie.
Connectivity 🛰️
The iPad mini has Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3, and on cellular models, support for 5G. Albeit sub-6 GHz. And let’s face it, that’s the only 5G frequency available for 99% of people anyway. As mentioned, I reviewed a Wi-Fi model, so I can’t provide an opinion on the speed of the cellular capabilities. But the Wi-Fi performance was fantastic. I easily achieved the full download and upload speed advertised by my internet provider when using the mini. Apps, games, and videos downloaded quickly. And streaming movies was a cinch.
Display 📺
The new iPad mini retains the 8.3 inch 60hz LCD panel from the last mini. It gets up to 500 nits of brightness. It’s acceptable for every day use and certainly for casual users. But it can’t compare to the much brighter displays found on Apple’s iPhone models from the last few years. Most of which can achieve in excess of 1000 nits of peak brightness. It’s not an issue indoors but outdoors it can be a struggle in certain lighting conditions. I’d have really liked to see Apple improve the display brightness this year.
Unlike Apple’s higher end devices such as the iPhone 16 Pro, iPad Pro or MacBook Pro, the lower 60hz refresh rate of the iPad mini feels dated. If you’re used to using one of Apple’s higher end devices that offer a smooth 120hz refresh rate, you’ll really notice the difference. And not in a good way. But if you’re a casual user, or somebody that hasn’t owned a device with a high refresh rate display, this might be a non-issue. For me, it’s a feature I would have loved Apple to add. And I really think it’s time that Apple brings this to its non-pro devices.
The display looks vivid and colourful. But it’s not comparable to an OLED panel which has individually illuminating pixels. And enables really deep dark blacks. Relying on LCD technology, the iPad mini has a notable colour shift when viewed off angle. Blacks can look a bit ‘grey’ in some situations. Like when watching a video that’s letterboxed. You’ll see that the black borders aren’t as dark as they could be. Again OLED technology or even mini-LED which would offer a big upgrade, are more premium display technologies. I would love to see this come to the iPad mini as would many users of Apple’s higher end devices. But it’s not a deal breaker and certainly not for the casual users.
This is one of those clashes of my desires as a user of high end Apple devices vs the reality of where the iPad mini sits in the iPad lineup. It’s a fantastic form factor and perfect for so many use cases. But the display is the defining element of a tablet. It’s the part of the device where you really notice improvements year on year, strengths and any shortcomings. To be clear this isn’t a bad display by any stretch of the imagination. Compared to older versions of the iPad mini, heck even the standard 10th generation iPad, the min 7 has a great display. And most people will be really pleased with it. For that minority of people like me though, you’ll probably wish for more.
Performance 💪
Apple has added a healthy upgrade this year as far as performance is concerned. The mini 7 sports Apple’s A17 Pro chip, up from the A15 chip in the mini 6. It’s about 30% faster for both CPU and GPU performance. And it has double the memory bandwidth of the A15 chip. It also has more RAM which we’ll get to later. But this upgrade makes things feel notably snappier and games look and feel more responsive. I tested PUBG out on the mini 7 as it has many graphical settings and is pretty intensive for mobile devices to run. I found that even at the highest end graphics settings the mini 7 didn’t skip a beat. I didn’t notice dropped frames and it didn’t heat up excessively. It did feel warmer but still felt comfortable to the touch. Apple has done some great optimisation work here.
For everyday use, the iPad mini soars around iPadOS like nobodies business. It’s fast, fluid and incredibly responsive. Apps launch instantly and even more demanding apps like Affinity Designer, Adobe Lightroom and Pixelmator perform very well. The only area that I could get the mini to chug a little was in exporting high resolution RAW photos from Lightroom. It took notably longer than my iPad Pro. But that’s to be expected given the different class of processor. And really, who’s using their iPad mini for high end photography editing anyway? It’s an extreme use case for this class of product. But it’s doable thanks to the A17 Pro chip.
Peripherals 🧰
The iPad mini has long had a strong ecosystem of accessories and peripherals. The mini 7 continues that tradition by adding support for Apple’s new Apple Pencil Pro, first introduced with the iPad Pro with M4 earlier this year. It drops support however for the now discontinued Apple Pencil 2. If you’re upgrading from the mini 6 and have the Apple Pencil 2, it’s worth noting that you’ll need to upgrade to an Apple Pencil Pro. Apple had to redesign the layout of magnets in the Pencil Pro that are used for attaching it to your iPad. The reason for this is that Apple redesigned the iPad Pro earlier this year with a much thinner chassis. Everything had to move. And that means the internal layout of the mini 7 has had to change too. That’s why the older pencil is no longer supported. That’s unfortunate but it’s also a positive change I think in the long term. The Apple Pencil Pro offers some really nice upgrades including haptic feedback, barrel roll technology and can be squeezed to bring up various tools. It makes sense to make that transition now rather than kicking the can down the road to a future iPad mini.
The mini 7 has a faster USB C port. It’s double the speed of the previous model. That’s great for transferring large files to a Mac or PC. It’s the same shape as any other USB C port so all of your older cables and accessories will work just fine if you’re upgrading from a mini 6. But if you’re upgrading from an older model which relied on the now defunct lightning port, those accessories won’t be compatible. Again this is a good thing in the long run. But important to be aware of. If this is your first iPad however then it won’t be an issue.
The iPad mini also has built in magnets on the back of the device for attaching cases including Apple’s excellent Smart Folio case. Fortunately these magnets haven’t changed from the iPad mini 6 and so your old cases will work just fine. Unless you’re upgrading from the mini 5 or older which had a totally different chassis design altogether.
Software 🍨
Apple Intelligence 🧠
The big reason that Apple introduced this new iPad mini was to add support for its new Apple Intelligence features. Artificial intelligence features built on large language models. The chip in the older iPad mini just wouldn’t cut it as it didn’t contain enough RAM and the memory bandwidth was too slow. The A17 Pro chip has 8GB of RAM and is the minimum requirement for Apple Intelligence. But this is where the review gets tricky. Apple Intelligence isn’t out in the UK. Not unless you change the device language to US English. And even then only certain announced features are currently available. Many of the best features including Genmoji are still in beta and a contextually aware Siri overhaul won’t be available in any capacity until next year.
I did try the iPadOS 18.2 public beta on my mini 7 to be able to try out the current crop of features and soon to be released features. But until they’re released to the general public in early December, I’m not going to provide a full review. For now I’ll say that I’ve found some of the features to be genuinely useful, including writing tools and image cleanup. While other features such as notification summaries I’m still formulating an opinion on.
My commitment is to update this review once Apple Intelligence is released to the public here in the UK. But I have to review the mini 7 based on what it does today and not on the promise of what it can do tomorrow. I think it’s great that the mini 7 is ready for Apple Intelligence. I also understand why Apple has chosen to share the feature set ahead of time and has given us a roadmap of what to expect. It helps them to stay competitive. But I disagree with some of their marketing. They really hyped up Apple Intelligence and it isn’t here yet. Not in the UK at least. And even in the US not all features are available. I think it was ok for Apple to say that Apple Intelligence is coming. But they could have been much clearer that it wasn’t going to be here from day 1. For the casual user outside the tech bubble that didn’t watch Apple’s WWDC event and doesn’t follow tech closely, they could be forgiven for believing Apple Intelligence would be available out of the box.
iPadOS 18 📝
iPadOS 18 was made for the iPad mini. The mini is in some ways Apple’s most optimised device for iPadOS. It’s touch first operating system. But thanks to the mini and its form factor, it doesn’t have to bow down to the pressure of the iPad Pro where many users want the iPad to run macOS. Its size allows it to just be a fantastic iPad. It makes no apologies for running a tablet operating system. And it isn’t trying to replace a Mac. It’s just a fantastic little tablet with performance and capability that out classes its size.
This year Apple has added some great iPad specific features to iPadOS that aren’t on iOS or macOS. Including much better handwriting recognition with the Apple Pencil. It adds a new feature call Smart Script that smooths and straightens your handwriting atomically. And it can automatically reflow text to fit in line with new content such as images that you add to your notes. And finally, after what feels like forever, Apple has added a calculator app to the iPad. But they’ve done it in a really thoughtful way by adding a great feature called math notes. It enabled you to scribble formulas and equations in the calculator app. And the iPad will resolve them for you. You can then copy and paste the results into others apps. Nice!
iPadOS remains a great tablet operating system. It has all the core features you would expect like web browsing, file management, email support, a camera roll, the App Store amongst other things. It’s a mature operating system and very capable. It’s in some ways the perfect compliment to the iPad mini as mentioned whose size doesn’t demand from pro users, macOS support.
Summary 💬
All in all the mini 7 is a great iPad. It’s perfect for casual users, for students who want a digital notebook, for enjoying movies and social media and more. It has the performance chop to handle pro apps and games. And with support for Apple Intelligence coming soon, it’s ready for new software and additional capabilities down the road.
So many people love the iPad mini and wish that it was something that it isn’t. An iPad Pro in mini form. With an OLED, 120hz display, slimmer display bezels and higher display brightness. But that isn’t how the mini is priced. On a personal level that’s the iPad mini that I want. But it isn’t the market Apple is aiming the mini at. It’s for those casual use cases. Not for professionals who Apple would prefer to buy the iPad Pro. But there’s just something so compelling about the size of the iPad mini. It’s a great media consumption device and amazing as an e-reader. Things that deserve a stunning display. But for now, that isn’t on the cards.
If this is your first iPad, you’ll have a wonderful time. If you’re a casual user or an upgrader, you’ll enjoy the mini 7. If you’re like me you’ll still love it, probably buy one anyway but continue longing for what the iPad mini could be. While that isn’t what we have today, the iPad mini, now in its 7th generation, is still the best small tablet you can buy. It’s great.
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