Apple iPad mini (7th generation) review: The little iPad that can (Updated)

Note: This review was first published on 22 October 2024 and was updated on 13 November 2024 with findings on Apple Intelligence and ratings. Scroll down to the end to see our findings and ratings.

Missing Apple Intelligence

The new iPad mini is a tricky product to review. Not because it’s only a spec-bump update but because its highlight feature – Apple Intelligence – is unavailable at the time of writing. Putting aside Apple Intelligence, should owners of the last-generation iPad mini upgrade? Or should they hold out or look for another iPad altogether? Let’s see if we can find answers to these questions.

The TL;DR version:



Though the new iPad mini is a fantastic little tablet, owners of the last-generation iPad mini should wait and see if they really want or need Apple Intelligence before deciding to upgrade.



Note: You can find the new iPad mini on Lazada, Shopee, and the Apple Online Store.

It’s nearly impossible to tell the new 7th-generation iPad mini from the old one. They have identical dimensions, weigh similarly, and come in almost the same finishes. The only way to tell is if it came in Blue. That's because blue is a new finish for the 7th-generation iPad mini—it replaces pink. You can also get the new iPad mini in Space Grey, Starlight, and Purple.

The display appears to be entirely unchanged. It’s an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2,266 x 1,488 pixels with a maximum brightness of 500 nits and support for the P3 colour space. The colours and sharpness are great, but it’s showing its age in some ways. Mainly, it isn’t as bright as some of the newer iPads, and its refresh rate is only just 60Hz. Speaking of refresh rates, the new iPad mini’s display continues to suffer from the jelly scrolling effect seen on the last generation iPad mini. Just take a look at the video below.

If the phrase “jelly scroll” is new to you, it refers to the inconsistent scrolling action of the iPad mini’s display particularly when it is in portrait mode. When scrolling in portrait, it looks like the left half of the display is refreshing slightly slower than the right half. This effect is present in the new iPad mini too, though to a lesser extent. Just see the video above.

The big change you can’t see, it’s the processor. Inside, the new iPad mini is powered by the A17 Pro chip. If you have been following developments closely, you’ll know that the A17 Pro is the minimum required to support Apple Intelligence insofar as Apple’s smartphone chips are concerned. Indeed, in marketing materials, Apple is promoting the latest iPad mini as being “built for Apple Intelligence”.

Unfortunately, as I’m sure most readers will know by now. Apple Intelligence isn’t available yet. And for now, all we know is that it will be coming in an update something next month. I’ve said before, never to buy a device based on the promise of future updates, so we’ll be evaluating the iPad mini as is, without Apple Intelligence. We’ll update this review when Apple Intelligence becomes available.

Back to the A17 Pro, one thing to know is that it’s not quite the same chip used in last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. The phones had A17 Pro chips with 6-core GPUs, whereas the iPad mini’s A17 Pro chip has a 5-core GPU. The CPU is the same – 6 cores made up of 2 high-performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. 

Apple claims the new iPad mini’s CPU and GPU performance is up to 30% and 25% faster respectively, and those claims are totally spot-on and perhaps a little conservative. As you’ll see in the benchmark results on the second page, the new iPad mini’s scores are significantly better than its predecessor’s. In fact, in some cases, the new iPad mini’s scores were comparable to that of the last-generation iPad Air with an M1 chip. In other words, its performance is top-notch. 

What this means is that the iPad mini can run just about any app that you throw at it. It’s only on extremely graphics-intensive titles like Genshin Impact that you start to see its limits. Despite the more powerful chip and the fact that battery capacity is unchanged, the new iPad mini lasted just as long as its predecessor in the battery test. In my experience, I found that it would easily last a couple of days with on-and-off use. 

The switch to the A17 Pro chip has some other benefits. Connectivity is improved with support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, and the USB-C port is now twice as fast, supporting data transfer rates of up to 10Gbps – very handy for transferring files. Photos taken using the cameras (12MP, also unchanged) also stand to benefit from the A17 Pro’s more advanced Smart HDR 4 image processing.

Sadly, Apple hasn’t released a keyboard accessory for the new iPad mini. Instead, the new iPad mini will support the new Apple Pencil Pro, which was announced earlier this year with the M4 iPad Pro. This new pencil supports a new Squeeze gesture and lets users perform a barrel roll action thanks to a gyroscope within. The barrel roll feature is helpful if you are using a shaped pen like a highlighter so don’t underestimate it. It’s a very pleasant stylus to use. The only problem is that it’s rather expensive at S$199. Also, it’s worth noting that the new iPad mini will not work with the second-generation Apple Pencil. 

One of the most interesting things about the new iPad mini is its price. The base model now costs S$50 less and, incredibly, comes with double the storage. The iPad mini is now available with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB of storage. The 256GB models also saw price cuts of S$130. I can’t believe I’m typing these words, but the iPad mini is more affordable and better value than ever.

7th generation iPad mini prices

(Prices of last-generation iPad mini in brackets)

Buying advice & final words

If you already own the last-generation iPad mini, the answer is probably no. You don’t need the improved performance of the A17 Pro to browse the web, reply to emails, play games, and catch up on shows. The A15 Bionic in the last iPad mini is perfectly capable of that. In fact, possibly the only thing that the new iPad mini can do that the last iPad mini can't is Apple Intelligence.

Really, the main reason why you might want to update is because of Apple Intelligence. But since it isn’t available for me to test, it’s impossible for me to say right now if it’s worth upgrading for it. Remember I said this new iPad mini was tricky to review? This is why. 

My main issue with the iPad mini is that its display is starting to look dated and could really use an upgrade. A brighter display with a higher refresh rate would have been very much welcomed. But this isn’t a dealbreaker given how competent the rest of the device is. It may be a spec-bump update, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that it is a fantastic little tablet. It’s compact, very portable, highly performant, and slightly more affordable. If you don’t own an iPad mini or if you have been eyeing one and holding out, this is the perfect time to snag one.

Update on 13 November 2024

Despite all the hype and buildup, I'm afraid Apple Intelligence doesn't drastically change the iPad mini user experience. Some Apple Intelligence features like Writing Tools and Clean Up for your photos are undeniably nice to have, but they neither make or break the device. None of the Apple Intelligence features are available now do. That said, it's a promising start and Apple is rumoured to be introducing even more Apple Intelligence features like Image Playground and Genmoji in sometime in December.

Note: You can find the new iPad mini on Lazada, Shopee, and the Apple Online Store.

Benchmarking results

Here are the results from the new 7th-generation iPad mini. The unit I tested is the Wi-Fi and cellular model and came with 512GB of storage.

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