Apple has revealed the novel iPad mini 7 , but how does it compare to the iPad Air 6 that launch to begin with this year ?
While some similarities – like the dispute in screen size – are obvious , there are more nuanced differences between Apple ’s two pad of paper collection , include elements like processing mightiness and even accessary backup , that might swing your decision one style or the other .
We ’ve yet to go hands - on with the iPad miniskirt 7 , but we ’ve spent a tidy sum of meter with theiPad Air 6 , and here ’s how the two compare on paper before of our in - deepness comparison once we ’ve survey the pocket-sized - screen tablet .
Pricing & availability
The iPad miniskirt 7 is the more low-cost of the two tablets , come in at £ 499/$499 with 128 GB of storage . It ’s available to pre - lodge now out front of release on 23 October 2024 .
The iPad Air 6 , on the other hired hand , starts at either £ 599/$599 or £ 799/$799 depend on whether you prefer for the 11- or 13 - inch manikin . It ’s readily available to purchase from retailer the right way now , comply release in May 2024 .
The iPad Air 6 is available in two screen sizes
The biggest difference between the latest iPad mini and iPad Air is screen size of it . As the name indicate , the iPad mini come with the modest screen in the iPad collection , measuring in at 8.3 inches . This also makes it the most easily portable tablet in Apple ’s collection , with a chassis small enough to habituate one - handed and slip into a bag or even a large pocket .
The iPad Air 6 , on the other hand , comes in two screenland sizes ; 11 inches and 13 inches . That ’s the same configuration as the top - endiPad Pro , as the iPad Air looks to bridge the gap between the regular and Pro - level iPads , though without the sametrulyhigh - end technical school .
Interestingly , despite the difference in screen door size , the iPad mini and iPad Air divvy up a very like resolution . That means that , despite being larger , the iPad mini boasts a more pixel - dense display at 327ppi compare to 264ppi from both the 11- and 13 - column inch variant of iPad Air .
The iPad Air 6 is more powerful
The iPad miniskirt 7 sports the sameApple A17 Prochipset as last class ’s flagship iPhone , theiPhone 15 Pro Max , boasting a large betterment on theA15 Bionicin the previous contemporaries of small - screen iPad .
However , that pales in comparison to the later generation of iPad Air , which sports the Apple M2 chipset . That ’s Apple ’s desktop chipset found in the ilk of the MacBook Air , and with that comes truly impressive level of performance that leave most other tablets – except the M4 of the iPad Pro range – in the dust .
That spend a penny the iPad Air 6 the more capable of the two tablet , hands - down , and it offers exclusive functionality like the ability to power extra displays via USB - coulomb as a result .
Both offer Apple Intelligence smarts
Despite the iPad Air being wholly more potent than the iPad mini , both offer funding forApple Intelligence , coming as an update to iPadOS 18 in the near future .
While not all Apple Intelligence features will appear on the tablet with the rollout of iPadOS 18.1 , it will let in an initial set of feature include the ability to rewrite texts and e-mail , summarise chunks of texts and even webpages , remove distractions in images using the Clean Up puppet and even generate summaries for incoming notifications .
The more hefty features , like Image Playground , Genmoji and the much - predict rising slope to Siri smarts , are due for sacking in the coming month .
Oh , and it ’s worth noting that Apple Intelligence is coming to the US first , with other regions including the UK getting support in the coming month . That said , you ’ll be capable to access it in the UK if you change your realm and language to English ( US ) out front of its UK release afterwards this year .
Both offer Apple Pencil Pro support, but only one works with the Magic Keyboard
Both the novel iPad mini 7 and iPad Air 6 fling livelihood for Apple ’s top - end style , the Apple Pencil Pro .
The upgrade stylus offer new squeeze play detection tech that lets you bring up a palette to quickly change coppice , line size of it and color in your note - taking and drawing apps , while a gyroscope countenance the Pencil to detect rotation for the first time .
This essentially leave you to roll the barrelful when spell and draw to change the gyration of the on - screen brush , bring it more in line with the penitentiary - and - theme experience .
The iPad Air 6 also boasts compatibility with the top - end Magic Keyboard , which essentially turn the tablet into something resembling a traditional laptop computer , gross with a great glass trackpad and adjustable hinge . This massively hike up the capabilities of the iPad Air , making it a great fellow traveller for university or work .
However , the same ca n’t be say for the iPad miniskirt 7 . It ’s still compatible with a range of third - political party keyboard cases , but you wo n’t find a mini version of Apple ’s Magic Keyboard for the tablet .
