iPad mini Are you upgrading from mini6 to mini7?

[*~Kim~*]

Considering upgrade from Mini 5, looks to be a decent switch. Only issues are Cellular (UK 649) vs WF (499) and Pencil, cannot see why USBC Pencil (69) will not work, as just for note taking? Cellular is a problem as eSim only so perhaps difficult to switch for Europe as O2 only support UK. So I hope to check it out this week in store and upgrade, will stick with SG colour I think.

The USB-C Pencil will work.

 

[emembee]

The USB-C Pencil will work.

That's good, but will need to keep it somewhere unless can find a case with holder. Also trade in on M5 is £105 so not bad, as it was a refurb purchase (but also in mint condition).

 

[*~Kim~*]

That's good, but will need to keep it somewhere unless can find a case with holder. Also trade in on M5 is £105 so not bad, as it was a refurb purchase (but also in mint condition).

It’ll store magnetically if you wish, it’s only the base iPad users that don’t have this option. Everyone needs to charge it via cable though, as it lacks the wireless charging functionality of the more expensive Pencil Pro.

 

[Johnny365]

2 more days!

 

[goodthymes]

Was really hoping to see some reviews before the 23rd. Is it possible that this upgrade is so "meh" that Apple didn't bother sending out any units to their favorites?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

The "favorites" (not really) reviews will hit at any time... and be loaded with gushing praise. One or two will identify some fault followed by the word "but..." that then undermines the impact of the fault so that it seems unimportant. I always assume this tactic is an effort to try to look like they are not in Apple's pocket without getting kicked out of the pool of "first reviewers" I call "friends of Apple."

If you want real reviews, wait until about 2 weeks after these are in the wild when people not competing for "first" eyeballs are not basically bribed to try to stay on Apple's good side... to persist the lucrative ad revenue from getting first crack at new Apple stuff, which thoroughly rewards them in cash from ad sales.

The people doing real reviews might have a few hundred or a few thousand "views" and thus probably not doing it for ad money... but to simply share their real opinions. If some of them are Apple fans, that will become obvious as everything will be perfect in every way. If some are haters, that will be obvious too as everything will be wrong with it. And then you'll get a segment that can offer some fairly objective pros & cons that will likely be the best of the reviews to help someone make a buy/don't buy decision.

 

[mpetrides]

What I am eager to hear from people who get their mini 7 on Release Day is whether the blue color is actually as green-blue as it looks like in the ads. I really prefer a green color but went with the purple because my mini 6 Smart Folio is purple. But if the color is really greenish blue, I might have to trade mine in (unopened) on a blue model.

 

[kitt9000]

I'm waiting on a mini 7 also and was expecting the Review embargo to lift this AM, want to mainly see if anyone mentioned if the portrait jelly scrolling has been fixed. But so far silent on even initial reviews just 2 days out from release. Odd.

 

[EdisEdward]

been wanting an iPad mini for a long time, but the screen quality just isn't great. would rather watch content on my iPhone or m4 iPad 11". I hope we get an old iPad mini sooner rather than later.

 

[chrono1081]

Kind of? I bought a Mini 6 on launch, absolutely LOVED it...but it was too small for a lot of the things I needed an iPad for so I upgraded to an M2 11 inch pro, realized that was just a bit too small since I was heavily using my iPad for work, upgraded to a 13 inch pro when those new ones came out this spring, it was fantastic for work, great as a secondary display for my laptop...but I really missed the size of the mini for so many things. Reading, surfing the internet on the couch, travel, doing sketches...

...so I ordered a mini 7. It'll be a great companion to my laptop and 13 inch pro.

 

[purdue1014]

Hi All,

Semi related question. Not sure if this is most appropriate spot so mods - please move as appropriate.

Had a Mini 6 until earlier this summer P2 dropped her Mini 2 into a pool (RIP). I gave her my Mini 6, and have been waiting for Mini 7.

I still have M2 11inch IPP. I frequently used to swap out my SIM card between Mini 6 and M2 IPP depending on the mission and my needs for travel.

My question:

Is there any mechanism with e-sim to digitally swap the same service between devices? Yes, I do have e-sim on my iPhone but I don't carry around two and have never really played around with checking.

Anyone here have any iPad specific e-sim swapping experience?

Thanks!

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don’t believe you can swap the phone eSIM for iPad eSIM, as the iPad doesn’t take calls etc. It really wouldn’t be practical. It is best for the iPad to have its own eSIM or you can use your phone as a hotspot.

 

[purdue1014]

What about swapping a single e-sim between two different iPads?

My phone e sim would indeed stay dedicated to phone only/separate.

 

[Apple_Robert]

What about swapping a single e-sim between two different iPads?

My phone e sim would indeed stay dedicated to phone only/separate.

You could do that. Depending on the carrier, you can do it easily in less than a minute on your own. Apple makes it pretty easy.

 

[mpetrides]

I don’t believe you can swap the phone eSIM for iPad eSIM, as the iPad doesn’t take calls etc. It really wouldn’t be practical. It is best for the iPad to have its own eSIM or you can use your phone as a hotspot.

For years I was grandfathered into a monthly unlimited data plan from ATT (YES, the one that was only available for about 2 weeks when the very first iPad launched) and I always got a cellular model iPad. When ATT finally dumped us from those plans, I stopped getting cellular iPads and now, on the rare occasions when I'm somewhere without WiFi or with excruciatingly slow WiFi, I tether my iPad to the hotspot from my iPhone.

Since I live in a rural area WiFi is still preferable (and often faster), but on those occasions when I must use cellular data and I find that I have crappy cell signal, I take solace in the fact that it wouldn't have been significantly better/faster if I had been using a built-in cellular modem in my iPad compared to the speed and performance I get when I'm tethered to my iPhone. The rate-limiting step isn't the tethering, it's the speed (or lack thereof) of my cellular connection.

 

[rui no onna]

What about swapping a single e-sim between two different iPads?

My phone e sim would indeed stay dedicated to phone only/separate.

If your carrier supports eSIM Quick Transfer, then yes you can easily do it via iPad settings.

I have Tello (T-Mobile MVNO) on one of my iPads and that one, I have to request a new eSIM from Tello if I want to change devices. I also have a Philippine eSIM where all I need to do is delete the eSIM from the old device and then just rescan the same eSIM QR code they originally emailed me on the new device to transfer.

Caveat with these methods, wifi is required in order to transfer.

 

[1rottenapple]

Curious what people’s perspectives are with this release

Hell no why? It won’t change how I use my iPad. Wow YouTube is so fast now! Wow the apple notes can…. Write faster? Nah it’s a waste. I wants a pixel 9 fold though 🤤

 

[mackie8]

i have been using my mini 6 for 3yrs since release date. battery is quite bad now. so i decided to sell and wait for mini 7. actually im thinking of getting pro 11 m4 due to face id i find power button / fingerprinter print sensor wobly after 3yrs of usage.

 

[Andy_2341]

I'm quite the iPad mini fan. I even use mine as my phone too (VOIP app + buds) so it is as important to me as "the precious" is to most Apple people. There's quite a lot of consumer value in using it to be BOTH devices vs. owning 2 separate devices (not really that far apart in screen size)... even with a small selection of tangible tradeoffs not related to screen size... like pocket-ability.

But I'm not upgrading to 7 from 6. Why? While I can appreciate the spec bumps, the 6 is "good enough" for my purposes. And I see the loss of that sim tray as a sizable negative for travelers (as Esim seems to only really be adopted by the pricier players while the dirt-cheap data/plans require a SIM card). When I visit another country and need data for a short time, I'd like to spend only a few bucks for it (as is commonly available with sim-based players) vs. paying much more to as little as ONE available choice offering Esim (and in some countries, there are NONE with Esim). I covet consumer value and that choice undermines that value through my lens to save what should be probably near nill in cost for getting rid of the slot hardware. And let's not even attempt the "waterproofing" defense (plenty of tech with a slot are just fine in that way) or how Apple needs the space: this is no iPhone cramped quarters... there's plenty of room in an iPad case.

However, the biggest driver is that the 2 was "good enough" for my uses until the 6... so I expect the 6 to be "good enough" until about the 9 or 10. I look forward to iPad Mini 9 or 10 in about 2029-2030.

A curious difference between iPad mini and "the precious" is the so-called "long in tooth" effect is not so prominent. In other words, an iPad seems to continue to be nice and fast throughout the life of the latest and prior generation... unlike "the precious" which seems "long in tooth" curiously fast. I wonder why? (rhetorical). So 6 should still be quite good until at least 8 or 9 and maybe all the way to 10. I look forward to the bigger tech hop forward to those generations.

Other than the sim tray deprecation, I see nothing else negative about the 7. If I had Mini 3 or 4, I'd probably hop on 7 and look forward to approximately 11 or 12 as my next one. IMO though: I see towards ZERO reasons to jump on every generation of this product unless the one you own is dead/broken/stolen/missing and you need a new one now.

On the note of staying nice and fast, I’ve ran Geekbench6 CPU and GPU tests on my Mini 6 (256 GB+Cellular) 4 months after I got it in March of this year. I ran them again today, 5 months later, and my performance increased for both. So over the course of 9 months of ownership, performance has increased, even with battery degradation and new iPadOS versions. I think I’m gonna have it for a good while. 😊

 

[muzzy996]

I think I'll just wait to see what things are like early next year after Apple Intelligence features roll out before I decide to upgrade my 256gb Cellular Mini 6 to a comparable Mini 7. I don't think that there will be an appreciable enough difference in the device for me to justify it based upon my usage patterns. I know that the RAM upgrade will make a difference on app/tab reloads but other than that I'm not hindered in any way by the current performance of the 6 so all things considered (especially the need to upgrade to a Pencil Pro to get back that functionality) it is just not worth it to me right now, and I'm doubtful that I'll feel much different even after AI features are finally live.

 

[dmk1974]

I probably missed it, but was it confirmed that the iPad Mini 7 now indeed has 8 GB RAM in it? I know it had been speculative, but wasn't sure if confirmed. Thanks!

 

[kindaichi81]

I probably missed it, but was it confirmed that the iPad Mini 7 now indeed has 8 GB RAM in it? I know it had been speculative, but wasn't sure if confirmed. Thanks!

yes, it has 8gb ram, which it KO the ipad mini 6 immediately, the no of iPadOS that the mini 7 can get will be significantly more than mini 6.

 

[kindaichi81]

my last ipad is ipad mini 3, which i owned ipad mini 2 and 1 previously also.

i am tempted to get the mini 6 when it was first released, but i did not.

and i am glad about my decision and now i will get the ipad mini 7. 😀

 

[DeepSix]

It's been confirmed that the Mini 7 still has the jelly roll feature. Im actually tempted to pick it up. If the screen quality is sharper than the Mini 6 I think it's worth it. Text on the Mini 6 screen wasn't sharp when compared to an iPad Pro 11.

 

[UltimateSyn]

It's been confirmed that the Mini 7 still has the jelly roll feature. Im actually tempted to pick it up. If the screen quality is sharper than the Mini 6 I think it's worth it. Text on the Mini 6 screen wasn't sharp when compared to an iPad Pro 11.

Interesting, since the mini technically has the highest ppi of any iPad, but I think I know what you mean.