Verdict
There is n’t a better small tablet on the market than the iPad Mini 7 . Apple ’s a la mode dinky slating might not be a huge climb if you nibble up the old framework , but its fast internals and support for the upcoming Apple news still make it a worthy buy .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Released without much fanfare , the iPad Mini 7 convey Apple Intelligence to the make ’s smallest tab .
Well , perhaps I should reword that – itwillbring Apple Intelligence to the brand ’s smallest tablet when Apple ’s first attempt at AI last gets its full release later this year .
Even without the shiny raw addition , is this the good small pad of paper around ? Or is your money better spent on the cheaperiPad 10 , or slightly pricieriPad Air M2 ?
I have reviewed the iPad Mini 7 without the IOS 18.1 update as this remains in developer genus Beta and will not be available to everyone when this lozenge is unblock . Once Apple Intelligence and theiOS 18.1update are out , I will update this brushup .
Design
If you were hoping the iPad Mini 7 would come with a powerful redesign , perhaps taking clue from the ridiculously thin Pro mannikin or the recentbest iPhones , then prepare to be disappointed . This is very much the same pad as before , just with a few raw colour pick .
Those fresh colour alternative include blue , which you may see in the images in this critique , and a rejigged purpleness – both of which are pastel hues that are very much on the light side . I care the blue , but it would be nice if it had more punch like the colour pick for the iPhone 16 . Starlight and Space Grey remain too .
New colours have been added for the Smart Folio case too , although there ’s still no prescribed keyboard cause from Apple . The display case come in blue , salvia green , grayness or purple and sell for £ 59/$59 . The page number case Apple sold for the iPad Mini 6 will jibe too , as the magnet structure around the back stay the same .
The dimensions are exactly the same and the free weight is unaltered too : 293 g for the Wi - Fi version and 297 guanine for the cellular . It really is as dinky and as portable as a pill can be and it ’s wakeful enough to give for retentive reading sessions without feeling any aching in the weapon system .
This is a perfect tablet to keep in a bag for commute , or to apply as a reading twist – register clip on this is ideal – as any added weight is hardly obtrusive and , at least for me , can be used comfortably in one hired man .
Apple ’s iPad Mini design remains smart , even without a noticeable redesign . I wish the categorical bound and back , while the lack of charge card – often check on smaller pad of paper – give it a high - end feel . Apple has decided against moving the front photographic camera from the brusk side to the farsighted side , a modification it has made on all of its braggy tab .
I fairly understand this decision , as you ’re more likely to be using this equipment in portrayal mode and less potential to have it bob in a keyboard stand . The TouchID sensor remain embedded inside the power Francis Scott Key on the top and it ’s a fast elbow room of get into the tablet and authenticating payment .
Screen
The iPad Mini 7 is the smallest iPad in Apple ’s range , with its 8.3 - in show being a fate modest than the 10.9 - in board on the iPad 10 .
It ’s the same display that was used in the outgoing model , so you ’re looking at an IPS panel with P3 colouring material documentation , genuine Tone and a 2266 x 1488 solution . It has some extras you wo n’t find on the iPad 10 too , like a amply laminated concealment and a good anti - reflective coating .
It ’s a self-colored screen , great in certain representative . It ’s great for video , have excellent detail and colours that , for LCD , pop nicely . Text is interpret sharply in books , and the brightness can hit around 500 nits – more than enough for comfortable wake in sunnier post .
Previous version of the Mini have been criticised for ‘ jelly scroll ’ upshot , whereby dissimilar share of the screen would refresh at different speeds giving off an unpaired look . I have n’t noticed this during the review outgrowth of the Mini 7 , although I will update this reassessment if it becomes an consequence .
My only criticism of the display is that Apple has shew how much right its screens can be . OLED and 120Hz ProMotion are common across the iPhone stove and Pro iPads ; and the inky blackness , superior contrast , smooth scrolling and proper HDR playback available with this panel type can often make it hard to look elsewhere .
The iPad Mini 7 might have a bragging screen than the iPhone 16 Pro Max , but the visual representation is adept on the latter .
Performance
The most obvious rise for the iPad Mini 7 is the addition of theA17 Prochipset that power the small tab . This is ( mostly ) the same as the flake found in the iPhone 15 Pro series , and along with offer some extra grunt in performance metrics , it also turn on the Apple Intelligence features arrive with iOS 18.1 .
The habit of an iPhone crisp is n’t inevitably new for an iPad , however it ’s not something Apple has tended to do recently . The last few iPad upgrades have see M - serial chips used , including the M4 in the late iPad Pro and M2 in the Air . I had expected Apple to use the M1 here , although considering the old model used the A15 Bionic it in all probability should hail as no surprise really .
There are legion benefits to the A17 Pro and it ’s a smart Saratoga chip to use . Not only will it be compatible with Apple Intelligence – these features wo n’t make their elbow room to the older MIni , or the groundwork iPad – it also support higher - end play features , like ray tracing , and as a upshot it can wager titles like Assassin ’s Creed Mirage and Resident Evil Village .
Performance inside these titles , and game in universal , is on equivalence with the iPhone 15 Pro – even if the GPU used here has one less core . This is a big little gaming automobile , especially when paired with a Bluetooth controller .
worldwide functioning is excellent too , as you ’d probably expect . compare to the iPad Mini 6 , there ’s extra zippo when scrolling , apps set up more quickly ( although you ’ll only notice this if the two gimmick are side - by - side ) and there ’s a wider setting to utilise more powerful apps for edit videos and exposure .
In our common suite of benchmarking test , my literal world experiences were confirm . The iPad Mini 7 score impressively , matching and outperforming far pricier Android slates in single and multi core trial .
Apple has doubled the RAM too , moving it from 4 GB to 8 GB . This is the same amount as the base Air and Pro models and is another requisite for Apple intelligence support . The 64 GB memory board grade has been ditch too , meaning you ’ll go straight in at 128 GB – with 256 GB and 512 GB options available too .
demote up that inner memory board remains pricey though . It ’s an extra £ 100/$100 to move from 128 GB to 256 gibibyte , and £ 300/$300 to strike 512 GB . pay £ 799/$799 for this dinky tab feels slightly pathetic , although the option is there if you must have raft of way for offline capacity . If you require cellular connectivity , the iPad Mini 7 can cost up to £ 949/$949 .
Another welfare of the new chip shot isWi - Fi 6Efor those with newer router , up from Wi - Fi 6 in the late iPad Mini .
On the back there ’s a individual 12MP camera with a wink , and around the front there ’s another 12MP sensor . The rear camera is all right , although the sound in your pocket is credibly good for genuine photos . I mainly use the iPad camera for scanning documents to signalise and when prompted in AR games .
The front camera do better , and it ’s good for video calls with nice facial detail . The Centre Stage feature is here too , which keeps you in frame as you move around .
Another additional accessory is the Apple Pencil , a stalwart of the iPad serial . Two Apple Pencil model are supported here , including the cheaperApple Pencil USB - Cand the pricier Apple Pencil Pro . If you ’re upgrading from the premature Mini , or a recent melodic line , and had an Apple Pencil 2 there , that wo n’t work . That ’s a ignominy , but it ’s a result of the tweaked interior requisite for the Pro stylus .
If you ’ve never had an Apple Pencil before , this wo n’t be an issue as the Apple Pencil Pro and the older Apple Pencil 2 retail for the same £ 129/$129 price .
I ’ve been testing the iPad Mini 7 with the Apple Pencil Pro and it ’s the version I ’d plunk down for . you could squeeze the tip to work up skirmish pick , there ’s a haptic response when you press , and even medal rejection to boot . The Apple Pencil USB - C is adequate if all you require to do is write , but it miss many of the upright drawing feature article .
This modest pad pair so naturally with a stylus , rick it into a fantastic little notebook or sketch pad .
Software
The big sell for the iPad Mini 7 , like the iPhone 16 Pro before it , isApple Intelligence . Apple ’s maraud into AI - assisted computing is a monolithic quite a little for the company , and there ’s clearly been a focus on update as many products as potential to support it .
The job is , at the clock time of writing , Apple Intelligence is only useable in developer beta form . If you buy this iPad on liberation Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , the iOS 18.1 software required to start the newfangled feature article wo n’t be useable , and even when it does arrive ( a handout engagement is expect release towards the end of October ) it ’ll only be in US English ( until December at the earliest ) and overleap many of the tentpole features . If you ’re in the EU , a release date could still be a long way off .
Until Apple Intelligence come on the iPad and I have been able to test it , I ca n’t really judge . Instead , I can only really extend through what ’s coming . Initial Apple Intelligence features include numerous writing tools , including the ability to proof copy , rewrite it in different tone and sum up it . All nice tools for sealed masses , although hardly groundbreaking .
Notifications can be summarised into handy sting - sized paragraphs and you may summarise emails too . Again , a neat trick but not one that ’ll alter how the machine is used .
add up in succeeding update are betterment to Siri , including its power to examine what ’s on your screen , and various image creation tool with Image Playground . These latter two are n’t even in genus Beta yet .
What you do get on the iPad Mini 7 isiOS 18 , and this remains an excellent OS for little tablets like this one . The app selection is expectant , you’re able to use two apps side - by - side and everything is a little more customisable now . Icons , for instance , can be tweaked to exhibit in various colours and you ’re not so rigidly stuck to receive pages of icons in a grid .
There ’s still no support for Stage Manager and its desktop - comparable prospect with resizeable windows , which is still restricted to larger iPads sporting bigger displays . I ’d say the 8.3 - inch screen is too pocket-size forStage Managerto process well , so even though the chip could plausibly treat it , it ’s a fresh omission .
Apple does n’t promise how many update any of its devices will get , although considering the iPad Mini 5 – released in 2017 – can handle the iOS 18 update , it ’s honest to say the Mini 7 will be supported for age to fare .
Battery Life
I have been reviewing iPads for the past ten , and something very familiar across many of them is bombardment life history . Apple seems to have decided on a routine for each model , be it Pro , Air or Mini , and rarely concentre on improving that .
For the Mini , that number is 10 hours of web browse on Wi - Fi or view video . Throughout my time testing the iPad Mini 7 , this title has seemed exact .
In a video recording playback test , it endure closer to 11 hours , although it ’s more or less less than 10 if the brightness is on full blast . My use of the smaller Mini wide-ranging to that of the larger Pro , as I was less inclined to practice it as a laptop computer replacement so during the recapitulation period I did n’t feel like I was ever hand for the charger at inopportune present moment .
accuse is done via USB - C , and you get a prissy braided USB - C to USB - C cable in the loge . In sure regions , like the UK , there ’s no plug arranger included , although this is n’t the case in the USA . It does seem a bit meager to not include at least a 20w plug , though if you ’re upgrade from another USB - C iPad then that chaw will work just fine .
Charging f number have ride out very much the same as before , with a full charge taking just under two hours .
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Should you buy it?
The iPad Mini 7 is a powerful tablet in a small , portable chassis . It ’s expectant for reading , look out video on the go and doodling with the Apple Pencil Pro .
Yes , they ’re far more expensive – but the OLED screens on theiPad Prorange are an absolute joy , and I would screw to see one of those impinge on the smaller tablet finally .
Final Thoughts
There is n’t a better small tablet on the market than the iPad Mini 7 and even though this is n’t a vast rise if you picked up theiPad Mini 6 , its strapping internals and support for the forthcomingApple intelligencestill make it a worthy raise .
execution is faster , there ’s support for a new Wi - Fi standard , no more 64 GB storage option and double the memory – plus it works with the superscript Apple Pencil Pro .
The biggest decision you have to make is whether you want this – which of path benefits from its dinky dimension – or the £ 100/$100 pricieriPad Air M2 . Both are great , though I would go for the Air – unless size is the key factor .
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FAQs
All fashion model add up with a USB - snow to USB - degree centigrade cable television service , whether a plug is include depends on region . In the UK , no stopple is let in .
