iPad Mini 7 Has These 6 Smaller Changes, Including a Faster USB-C Port

[Digitalguy]

With the removal of the SIM tray, I'm no longer considering any cellular iPads for purchase. Wi-Fi only going forward.

Same for me. I am on Windows, and my 2 Windows devices that had cellular do not support eSIM. Also some carries only allow a limited number of swap among devices with eSIM... I only got the M4 5G because I found one new for the same price as the wifi, so it was a no brainer... But I think I am good for years with my M1 5G and and mini 5 4G whenver I need a cellular iPad.

 

[jdb8167]

Or, hear me out it sounds crazy, don’t buy an iPad at all. It’s a hardware powerhouse let down exceptionally by software. I don’t know why anyone gets an iPad outside of creative use-cases. Mac is better by just about any measure

iPad mini for content consumption. Best for the web and ebooks. Don’t use it for anything creative at all. Going from 256 GB to 128 GB since 64 GB was too small but 256 is way overkill.

 

[Chungry]

iPad mini for content consumption. Best for the web and ebooks. Don’t use it for anything creative at all. Going from 256 GB to 128 GB since 64 GB was too small but 256 is way overkill.

I would be right there with you if it weren’t for the dog screen

 

[Zdigital2015]

Apple can seriously F off with these so called updates. It’s not even worth calling it a refresh. It’s below mediocre.

I was so looking forward an updated iPad mini AND an iPad mini Pro.

If you seriously thought Apple was going to introduce two iPad minis you’re not paying attention and are simply asking for wish fulfillment. You’re also being overly dramatic.

The refresh is fine and although the SoC choice is odd/bad (the A18 was the logical choice), the rest of the update is exactly what should have been expected. The mini is not a volume mover and hasn’t been for quite a while. Anyone believing that the mini is some sort of mainstream product is deluding themselves. There’s room for improvement, but the mini has enough new to meet the needs of those who truly value the size and its compromises.

 

[Chungry]

If you seriously thought Apple was going to introduce two iPad minis you’re not paying attention and are simply asking for wish fulfillment. You’re also being overly dramatic.

The refresh is fine and although the SoC choice is odd/bad (the A18 was the logical choice), the rest of the update is exactly what should have been expected. The mini is not a volume mover and hasn’t been for quite a while. Anyone believing that the mini is some sort of mainstream product is deluding themselves. There’s room for improvement, but the mini has enough new to meet the needs of those who truly value the size and its compromises.

I think that Apple could have updated the screen and called it a day and folks would be scrambling to buy one. Instead we got some feature creep but not much substantial. Why even update it at this point? People pretty much wanted a screen as this device is
purely about consumption. It’s a huge swing and miss versus no update and another tacit admission that Apple has no finger on the pulse of what people want. I miss the days of Apple being bold and saying, “you don’t know it yet but BOOM here is what you want.” This product exists to meet a price point and further shareholder value. That’s it full stop

 

[vmac556]

still has the same s h it screen with jelly scroll?

 

[Chungry]

still has the same s h it screen with jelly scroll?

Apparently it does. The one thing people found that was an objective “fix it on the next revision” item and I’ll buy again and Apple was all “nah fam it’ll be fine”. It’s unbelievable in how out of touch this product “update” is

 

[tdale321]

AHEMMMMMM. just noticed this watching one of the new M4 14" MacBook Pro leak videos.......obviously those units are the real deal. quite the smoking gun there.

 

[alexanderwolf]

I used to make fun of the iPad mini… that is, until I bought one maybe a year and a half ago? I use my mini 6 nearly every day whereas my 12.9” M1 iPad Pro I barely ever use. The mini is just so fun to read on, check out some web sites — simple things when I’m not in “work mode” on a M3 Pro MacBook Pro or M1 Ultra Mac Studio.

That said, this refresh is really lacking in innovation. I mean, I don’t know if anything can be stated as an innovation at all. It wouldn’t really matter if this was released a year ago or whatever, but for it not to be updated in so many years and this is all it is? A little disappointing. That said, the mini 6 is still entirely useable.

The spec bump while retaining the same price is nice, at least. Imagine they charged $100+ more, per storage spec. That would have been much more of a disaster whereas this all feels very meh.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I was looking forward to a more premium iPad mini despite the lacking iPadOS. I am so pissed I might buy a Surface Pro or an Asus despite them being more expensive.

We are not in 2015 anymore, Apple needs to adapt to the times or respectfully let Tim retire.

Apple is consistent with spec bump releases. Maybe it is your false expectations that you should take umbrage with. No need to be pissed when expectations of your own making didn’t come to fruition.

 

[Chungry]

Apple is consistent with spec bump releases. Maybe it is your false expectations that you should take umbrage with. No need to be pissed when expectations of your own making didn’t come to fruition.

A spec bump release should have, first and foremost prioritized the screen which is arguably the most important piece of the iPad. It’s the primary interface. But jelly scrolling it is because putting a better screen in would have cost, what 100$ at their scale? I think folks are right to hold Apple’s collective feet to the fire on this

 

[dampfnudel]

I was as surprised as you to see the A17 Pro show up in the iPad Mini due to the well publicized issues with N3B (higher cost, lower efficiency and yield compared to N3E). Once I saw that these were binned A17 Pro chips though it kind of makes sense. I suspect Apple hung onto a stockpile of A17 chips that didn't meet the standard they set for the iPhone 15 Pro but are serviceable with a disabled graphics core (and possibly slightly slower clock speeds). The iPad Mini is likely low enough volume that the binned chips leftover from volume production for the iPhone 15 Pro could easily be enough supply to put in the iPad Mini for the next 2-3 years without having to keep N3B going. Just my thoughts on the matter anyway...

If they’re binned, we should know soon enough from the various reviews that will use Geekbench and other tests. I wonder why Apple didn’t just rename it A17 because we won’t be getting the expected A17 Pro performance if it’s binned. That could lead to some negative publicity for Apple if it gets highlighted in various reviews.

 

[Apple_Robert]

A spec bump release should have, first and foremost prioritized the screen which is arguably the most important piece of the iPad. It’s the primary interface. But jelly scrolling it is because putting a better screen in would have cost, what 100$ at their scale? I think folks are right to hold Apple’s collective feet to the fire on this

Although I am a big mini fan, I recognize that the mini is probably not as popular a seller as many on here would like to think. As such, I don’t see Apple investing in a big spec bump. A lot of people use the mini primarily for the small carry size. They aren’t obsessed with wanting Promotion and a lot of other bells and whistles, especially when they can get that in the 11” M4. I also think that Apple is not going to do anything with the mini that might incentivize people towards the mini, instead of the base pro.

 

[dampfnudel]

People always forget about the development costs of the 3nm chip itself, which is around $1 billion. The mask set costs $20 million alone. You don't just dump those things because the variable cost is relatively high.

It's like saying, dump the brand new luxury gas car for an EV just because electricity costs less. Few people would do that.

Apple was never going discontinue the N3B process so quickly. They were involved in its creation with TSMC and knew about the challenges all along. It's not as if they were suddenly surprised about the costs.

Apple will still be doing N3B for years to come. Don't forget M3 iPad Air. Wouldn't be surprised if the next HomePod mini or Apple Display came with an N3B-based chip for AI.

I got the impression from what I read here and elsewhere that the N3B process would only be used until the N3E process was ready. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Chungry]

I got the impression from what I read here and elsewhere that the N3B process would only be used until the N3E process was ready. I guess I was wrong.

I wouldn’t go that far- if this is a binned chip it seems Apple had more on hand than expected and pushed the update out the door to recoup their costs.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

In my opinion, the iPad Mini should be terminated and replaced with a third, smaller version of iPad Air. There is no reason why people who want a smaller iPad should have to accept lesser specs.

 

[JPack]

I wouldn’t go that far- if this is a binned chip it seems Apple had more on hand than expected and pushed the update out the door to recoup their costs.

If Apple had so many unexpected “binned” chips, they would lower the spec on A17 Pro to match yields on day one. It’s not as if Apple was desperately behind in smartphone performance.

Apple isn't likely to throw binned chips at iPad mini. Think about it, the number of binned chips would have to match exactly the demand for iPad mini 7. What kind of business plan is that?

 

[Denzo]

People need to keep in mind Apple has kept the pricing the same after a few years of rocketing inflation. So in real terms, this is actually a price cut for the iPad Mini with doubled RAM, storage, and several other nice improvements.

The iPad Mini inscription on the back is really a welcome change.

This.. is hilarious.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

The ipad mini never got the best treatment so I don't understand how everyone things this time they would. Maybe if it was the best selling ipad model but it's not. These comments are hilarious - I wish it had a M2 processor and a better screen but I guess I'll wait for the reviews and see whats up.

 

[bodonnell202]

If Apple had so many unexpected “binned” chips, they would lower the spec on A17 Pro to match yields on day one. It’s not as if Apple was desperately behind in smartphone performance.

Apple isn't likely to throw binned chips at iPad mini. Think about it, the number of binned chips would have to match exactly the demand for iPad mini 7. What kind of business plan is that?

Of course they are binned, why else would the A17 they are putting in the iPad Mini have one fewer graphics core than the A17 that was in the 15 Pros? You think they just omitted that graphics core for no reason? It’s actually a smart business plan from the perspective of saving on production costs. They know the defect rate on graphics cores during the manufacture of the A17 Pro (i.e. they weren’t unexpected) and they know how well the iPad Mini sells. Given the lower volume of the iPad Mini (compared to iPhone Pro models) and the lower yields (higher defect rate) of N3B it all seems pretty logical.

 

[johnnytravels]

I would have bought it if it was included in the back to school promo with the free pencil ..

 

[JPack]

Of course they are binned, why else would the A17 they are putting in the iPad Mini have one fewer graphics core than the A17 that was in the 15 Pros? You think they just omitted that graphics core for no reason? It’s actually a smart business plan from the perspective of saving on production costs. They know the defect rate on graphics cores during the manufacture of the A17 Pro (i.e. they weren’t unexpected) and they know how well the iPad Mini sells. Given the lower volume of the iPad Mini (compared to iPhone Pro models) and the lower yields (higher defect rate) of N3B it all seems pretty logical.

The A17 Pros fabbed today likely have disabled GPUs cores from the start to increase yields, rather than being rejects for iPhone 15 Pro.

Just because Apple knows the defect rate for A17 GPU doesn't mean it'll match the demand for iPad mini 7. Those will be two very different numbers. You're confusing knowing the defect rate with matching iPad mini demand.

N3B defect rate will continue to improve. Intel is using N3B for Lunar Lake. What then? Apple will stop selling iPad mini if there are not enough defective chips? That's a silly business plan.

The best business plan is to lower the clocks on A17 Pro to match maximize yield, so most chips can be used for iPhone 15 Pro/Max. That was already done in 2023 at launch. This is in contrast to the Hail Mary business plan of hoping and praying defects match demand for iPad mini.

 

[svish]

Happy to see an increase in base storage. Disappointed with the colours.

 

[ds2000]

So

• Old binned chip
• AI that you may or may not even want
• And you have to buy a new pencil -- good if you'd like to use the Pro Pencil though

More RAM is the only real upgrade here in my view

You're correct but nobody "has" to buy the latest and greatest.

 

[t2jd1967]

I am going to wait for the reviews on performance and the screen scrolling, otherwise the only real disappointment is the price bump in Europe ( €609 vs € 559 ) for a piece of hardware that is not exactly cheap for what it does. The extra RAM is nice and I don't really see the use case for additional storage, but 128GB is a welcome upgrade. The A17 chip should be plenty of power for most considering the small form factor and Wifi 7 would be nice, but it is not a deal-breaker for me, I still run 802.11ax at home anyway.

People expecting iPad Pro performance in a small factor are just being plain unrealistic, the volume is too small and Apple wants to avoid cannibalisation of its product line. And would anyone really spend upwards of $1k on an iPad mini with Pro specs? I would seriously doubt it.