iPad mini iPad mini 7 doubled the RAM and storage and kept the price the same?

[*~Kim~*]

Further supporting that the Air and Mini are no longer roughly equivalent, the latter didn’t get the 1TB option of the former. Yes, you might not need 1TB on the go, but in terms of backups and general usability it must be good to have one device as an exact copy of another. If I wanted or had to have different content on different iPads, I think I would be getting a separate Apple ID for it and saving myself the headache.

Once the Air had received the wider range of storage options previously reserved for the Pro, with users only forced to go Pro for storage reasons if they want 2TB, it set the standard of what to expect. It would have been very Apple to remove 256GB as an option, so the good surprise came in May.

The processor is a disappointment, the base storage as expected and the RAM if anything a surprise: I had thought they might skimp and go 6GB, but it looks as though Apple Intelligence forced their hand in the way that M1 did when the Air went up to that level. They could also have shrunk the bezels to match the screen to body ratio of the Air to make it a more compelling upgrade for users with the Mini 6, but that would have taken R&D.

The Mini is no longer the little sibling, but the cousin.

 

[rui no onna]

If I wanted or had to have different content on different iPads, I think I would be getting a separate Apple ID for it and saving myself the headache.

I regularly keep different content on my iPads based on screen size and storage capacity. Same Apple ID, Amazon and Kobo accounts on all.

Frankly, keeping the devices in sync content-wise would be a bigger headache with the apps I use. I have to manually download ebooks and comics on each instance of the Kindle and Kobo apps (thanks DRM 🙄). Downloading 500GB+ of the same content on each iPad is a PITA especially since background downloads time out after a while. Besides, even 2TB is not enough for me to download all my manga/comics.

 

[rui no onna]

That’s interesting the Mail app does that too. Do you know if it’s by design then (Apple’s and/or Google’s)?

Guessing it’s Apple’s. Iirc, even Messages behaves the same way.

 

[ctjack]

I'd say I agree to some extent. And I'd say it's a mix of some positives and negatives:

In the context of previous iPads mini, this is a pretty good upgrade. 128GB storage and 8GB RAM is, in 2024, still the sweet spot that will both be good enough for the average user and the ones that might want to do more demanding things (if the app devs even have scaled versions of their Pro apps for the mini. I don't actually know).

But considering all the specs of mini 7 in comparison to iPads Pro M4, M2 Airs, or the last few years of iPads Pro, and how long it took to escape the way too little 64GB storage + 3GB-4GB RAM, iPad mini 7 is not an impressive product.

I also don't get the whole "it's just a spec bump. why expect so much?" argument -It's Apple's decision when to overhaul and when to spec bump. It's their decision to not make the mini 7 more impressive, their decision to limit OLED to the Pros, their decision to rarely do big upgrades for mini.

I don't care what modifiers and apologies you can come up with -It's still largely the exact same mini as the 6th Gen. Mostly just internal upgrades.

I'm not unimpressed just to be cross. I just know how to add up the value of the product and not get misled by all the vague "smaller form-factor is superior and worth it" nonsense that so many in here repeat ad nauseam.

fact: a much smaller display, chassis, speakers, etc. means less expenses for Apple. Apple is spending even less making minis than Airs but still selling them for about the same price. mini is much smaller than Air, gets a much less capable SoC, and should therefore sell for a lot less! 128GB/8GB doesn't make up for that.

Guys, this is an 8.3" LCD display on a $499 device in 2024. While Apple is also selling a 11" M2 iPad Air for $599 right next to it.

Even with 128GB internal storage and 8GB RAM, the mini 7 should sell for $299-$399.

3 weeks ago, target was selling brand new Pro 11 M2 for 479 and 256gb version for 50 bucks more. I would have grabbed the pros if were in the market for 11 inch size.

 

[rui no onna]

I don't care what modifiers and apologies you can come up with -It's still largely the exact same mini as the 6th Gen. Mostly just internal upgrades.

The iPad Air 6th gen is largely the same as the iPad Air 5th gen with internal upgrades and different camera position. The screen is still the same 10.9” 2360x1640 264 ppi. They just rounded it off to 11” in the name.

If anything, the Mini is now closer to the Air (assuming it comes with 8GB RAM). At one point, Apple was selling the Mini 6 A15/4GB along with the Air 5 M1/8GB which is a bigger gap.

I just know how to add up the value of the product and not get misled by all the vague "smaller form-factor is superior and worth it" nonsense that so many in here repeat ad nauseam.

I don’t think anyone is saying that the iPad mini is the superior form factor. Just that it works best for them.

I can relate. I have all iPad sizes but the Mini is the one I reach for the most.

 

[Johnny365]

iPad Mini was thought to be dead from the Mini 4 and the countless months leading up to the Mini 5 unveiling. Apple continues to surprise us all!

 

[*~Kim~*]

iPad Mini was thought to be dead from the Mini 4 and the countless months leading up to the Mini 5 unveiling. Apple continues to surprise us all!

Rumours seem pretty solid for an 8th. The Mini 5 was completely unexpected.

 

[Johnny365]

I know. I'm just saying, back then, people were thinking the same thing about "The Mini line is dead".

 

[subjonas]

Guessing it’s Apple’s. Iirc, even Messages behaves the same way.

You're right, Messages immediately clears search results too. If by design, I wonder what the reason is since it makes for a bad UX and doesn't seem like it would be due to lack of resources.
I seem to remember Notes doing this too in the past but couldn't reproduce it, so maybe not.

 

[DSTOFEL]

Agreed, I would buy an iPad Pro Mini, or an iPhone Pro Mini with feature parity with larger devices.

The original iPhone - iPhone 5s crammed state of the art (for the time) tech in small devices. Here and now, with OLED, and smaller / far more powerful SOC builds, making an uber powerful phone the size of the original iPhone would be relatively trivial. An iPad Mini Pro with Thunderbolt, OLED, 1TB storage, and better multi-tasking would be amazing.

I feel Apple is missing the boat by not providing an iPad (or even an iPhone) capable of running FULL MacOS when attached to a Monitor, keyboard, mouse, but reverting back to iOS (iPad too) when out and about without such attachments.

But I can only dream.

💯. I had the 5s and the 13 mini. The 5s was probably my favorite iphone design ever. The 13 Mini 2nd. It’s surprising to see how close in size the iPhone mini’s are to the 5s. As much as I loved the 13 Mini, I always wished it was even smaller…to make it even more “pocketable”.

I’ve got the 15 Pro now and would gladly go back to a ”state of the art”, “feature packed” iPhone the physical size of the 5s.

I’ll probably pick up the iPad mini 7 128gb on the fist good sale I think it was a good spec bump…should be able to keep it for the foreseeable future!

 

[jimmirehman]

I’ve had an iPad mini 6 since launch day. I think my biggest gripe is it took Apple so long to refresh the product I was expecting something more grand. Perhaps a Pro model or Pro modelesque with the iPad Pro type camera array, brighter screen or even a Smart Connector with Apple keyboard case like all the other iPads. What REALLY pisses me off if that there is no Pencil backwards compatibility.

 

[ignatius345]

Did I get this right? And people are complaining? Doesn't this kind of prove that no matter what Apple does, people will complain?

The iPad mini 7 isn't a different product, it is a refresh of an existing one. Typically with refreshes at best you get faster Wi-Fi and a faster CPU. They literally doubled the RAM from 4GB to 8GB and doubled the base model storage from 64GB to 128GB and kept it at the same $499 price. This is besides the usual refresh items like a faster CPU.

I don't understand the complaints? I can understand complaints if they released something like an iPad mini Pro that didn't have OLED or something. But this is the same model, just newer. Why are people complaining?

Shhhh. People are busy whinging. Don't confuse them with logic.

 

[mpetrides]

Did I get this right? And people are complaining? Doesn't this kind of prove that no matter what Apple does, people will complain?

The iPad mini 7 isn't a different product, it is a refresh of an existing one. Typically with refreshes at best you get faster Wi-Fi and a faster CPU. They literally doubled the RAM from 4GB to 8GB and doubled the base model storage from 64GB to 128GB and kept it at the same $499 price. This is besides the usual refresh items like a faster CPU.

I don't understand the complaints? I can understand complaints if they released something like an iPad mini Pro that didn't have OLED or something. But this is the same model, just newer. Why are people complaining?

Because complaining, wussing, and whining are characteristic of the human condition? Seriously, I agree with you. And the improved price:tech ratio gets even better when you look at the 256 GB model, which is now $599 instead of the $649 I paid for my mini 6 on Launch Day.

I was initially on the fence about upgrading my 256 GB mini 6, which has been my stalwart for reading eBooks in all settings, including in waiting rooms, and for checking my email, listening to audiobooks, and light web surfing in bed for the last 3 years. The upgrades seemed quite useful, especially given the lower price, but my mini 6 still does everything I need it to do and without significant delay/problem related to the 4 GB RAM, so I was having a little trouble justifying the expenditure.

THEN, I discovered Best Buy would give me a BB gift card for $215 for my 256 GB iPad mini *5*, which was really only serving as a control panel for my Apple Home. Well, THAT sealed the deal. A 256 GB iPad mini 7 with all those new features (more RAM, beefier CPU, faster USB-C, faster WiFi, and support for the Pencil Pro) for a net expenditure under $400 is a no brainer.

Had I wanted to sell my beloved mini 6, I'm sure the value proposition would have been even better--but in the end I decided I wanted to keep it, even if I end up only using it to control my smart lights and locks. Bottom line, to those who are sitting on the fence, whining that the upgrades don't justify the cost of upgrading from a mini 6, maybe you should just take a look at what you can get in trade for your mini 6--not from Apple directly but from retailers like Best Buy. You might just find that upgrading is a value proposition. As always, of course, YMMV.

 

[ctjack]

Because complaining, wussing, and whining are characteristic of the human condition? Seriously, I agree with you. And the improved price:tech ratio gets even better when you look at the 256 GB model, which is now $599 instead of the $649 I paid for my mini 6 on Launch Day.

I was initially on the fence about upgrading my 256 GB mini 6, which has been my stalwart for reading eBooks in all settings, including in waiting rooms, and for checking my email, listening to audiobooks, and light web surfing in bed for the last 3 years. The upgrades seemed quite useful, especially given the lower price, but my mini 6 still does everything I need it to do and without significant delay/problem related to the 4 GB RAM, so I was having a little trouble justifying the expenditure.

THEN, I discovered Best Buy would give me a BB gift card for $215 for my 256 GB iPad mini *5*, which was really only serving as a control panel for my Apple Home. Well, THAT sealed the deal. A 256 GB iPad mini 7 with all those new features (more RAM, beefier CPU, faster USB-C, faster WiFi, and support for the Pencil Pro) for a net expenditure under $400 is a no brainer.

Had I wanted to sell my beloved mini 6, I'm sure the value proposition would have been even better--but in the end I decided I wanted to keep it, even if I end up only using it to control my smart lights and locks. Bottom line, to those who are sitting on the fence, whining that the upgrades don't justify the cost of upgrading from a mini 6, maybe you should just take a look at what you can get in trade for your mini 6--not from Apple directly but from retailers like Best Buy. You might just find that upgrading is a value proposition. As always, of course, YMMV.

Yeah, good point. I have a almost a brick iPhone 12 mini lying around. Apple gives 150. As a part time student, 256gb mini 7 for 400 or 128 for 300 is kind of no brainer.

 

[Sherry Livingston]

Note also that they're not even calling it "7," "7th generation," or anything like that. I think they're referring to it only by the chip now.

I might charitably regard "complainers" as people with specific wishes whose wishes weren't granted – I get that. If I had to dig for a complaint, I suppose it might be that the transition from iPad mini 5 to iPad mini 6 was also an unprecedented price increase for iPad mini.

True. There is no iPad mini 7. There is iPad mini (A17Pro). The one that supports Apple Pencil Pro. But no, it's not Pro iPad.

 

[Moukee]

Note also that they're not even calling it "7," "7th generation," or anything like that. I think they're referring to it only by the chip now.

I might charitably regard "complainers" as people with specific wishes whose wishes weren't granted – I get that. If I had to dig for a complaint, I suppose it might be that the transition from iPad mini 5 to iPad mini 6 was also an unprecedented price increase for iPad mini.

They're doing that with all the iPads except the base model. The current Air is referred to as "iPad Air (M2)" and the current Pro is referred to "iPad Pro (M4)".

 

[DeepSix]

Im still waiting for a $500 price increase by Apple.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Did I get this right? And people are complaining? Doesn't this kind of prove that no matter what Apple does, people will complain?

The iPad mini 7 isn't a different product, it is a refresh of an existing one. Typically with refreshes at best you get faster Wi-Fi and a faster CPU. They literally doubled the RAM from 4GB to 8GB and doubled the base model storage from 64GB to 128GB and kept it at the same $499 price. This is besides the usual refresh items like a faster CPU.

It's a shockingly good deal. People complain because it isn't literally what they individually consider to be perfect, ignoring that it's an exceptional device at a great price.

I just wish it came in better colors.

 

[ctjack]

It's a shockingly good deal. People complain because it isn't literally what they individually consider to be perfect, ignoring that it's an exceptional device at a great price.

I just wish it came in better colors.

I just learned yesterday, that one can order lenovo y700 legion tablet from aliexpress to US for $284.

It has 144hz screen, 2 usb c ports, switch and ps2 emulators.

Cons: software support is questionable. It almost feels like 2011, where you buy galaxy s3 with android 4 and it is stuck on it forever. But on the other hand, android is not ios, so you can still camp out in old android version without losing new apps/updates. Ios cuts us off very soon in comparison and urges to update ios first.

 

[rui no onna]

I just learned yesterday, that one can order lenovo y700 legion tablet from aliexpress to US for $284.

It has 144hz screen, 2 usb c ports, switch and ps2 emulators.

That’s a nice price for a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. I was looking at phones with that SoC and they were $800+. The Steam Deck’s a bit of a PITA to carry daily.

Cons: software support is questionable. It almost feels like 2011, where you buy galaxy s3 with android 4 and it is stuck on it forever. But on the other hand, android is not ios, so you can still camp out in old android version without losing new apps/updates. Ios cuts us off very soon in comparison and urges to update ios first.

They only give you one major Android update but they do deliver security updates a few years beyond that. Plus, Android’s more modular design means you get some security updates delivered via Google Play.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

That’s a nice price for a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. I was looking at phones with that SoC and they were $800+. The Steam Deck’s a bit of a PITA to carry daily.

It's an 8G1, not a G3 unfortunately. Still, it's a pretty good deal if you're willing to tolerate android/google.

 

[turbineseaplane]

It's an 8G1, not a G3 unfortunately. Still, it's a pretty good deal if you're willing to tolerate android/google.

2024 model is 8G3 at least .. worth waiting for it would seem

This is giztop pricing --
Quite a bit lower on Ali direct from a wide variety of vendors

 

[ProbablyDylan]

2024 model is 8G3 at least .. worth waiting for it would seem

View attachment 2441752

This is giztop pricing --
Quite a bit lower on Ali direct from a wide variety of vendors

Ah, that's not the >$300 model I was looking at. Not as a good deal but still a decent enough price.

 

[Slix]

People online seem to be complaining not only about the screen or whatever, but the fact that the design is the "same old boring design since 2021". Does no one remember anything from more than 1 generation before when a new product gets released? The iPad mini basically had the same exact design from 2012 until 2021, for 5 generations! It's now a slab of glass with small bezels and Touch ID in the lock button, with all the good internals that the iPhone 15 Pro had, what more could you want from a design of the smallest iPad they sell? I don't understand the complaints about design changes, as if Apple should change designs of products every other year just because.

 

[Johnny365]

People online seem to be complaining not only about the screen or whatever, but the fact that the design is the "same old boring design since 2021". Does no one remember anything from more than 1 generation before when a new product gets released? The iPad mini basically had the same exact design from 2012 until 2021, for 5 generations! It's now a slab of glass with small bezels and Touch ID in the lock button, with all the good internals that the iPhone 15 Pro had, what more could you want from a design of the smallest iPad they sell? I don't understand the complaints about design changes, as if Apple should change designs of products every other year just because.

Totally agree. I got the 2017 iPad Pro 10.5” less than a year before the next iPad Pros (2018s) moved to Face ID and no home button / Touch ID. Then, with the 2019 iPad Mini 5, a year to a year and a half later, the Mini 6 comes out with a different/unique design. You know what hasn’t changed overall? My use cases and enjoyment about iPads.