Apple today unveiled the new iPad mini, with a A17 Pro chip, and a new ultraportable design.
A17 Pro delivers a huge performance boost for even the most demanding tasks, with a faster CPU and GPU, a 2x faster Neural Engine than the previous-generation iPad mini, and support for the upcoming Apple Intelligence.
The new iPad mini brings support for Apple Pencil Pro, opening up entirely new ways to be even more productive and creative. The 12MP wide back camera supports Smart HDR 4 for natural-looking photos with increased dynamic range, and uses machine learning to detect and scan documents right in the Camera app.
“There is no other device in the world like iPad mini, beloved for its combination of powerful performance and versatility in our most ultraportable design. iPad mini appeals to a wide range of users and has been built for Apple Intelligence, delivering intelligent new features that are powerful, personal, and private,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.
“With the powerful A17 Pro chip, faster connectivity, and support for Apple Pencil Pro, the new iPad mini delivers the full iPad experience in our most portable design at an incredible value.”
A17 Pro
A17 Pro is a powerful chip that unlocks a number of improvements over A15 Bionic in the previous-generation iPad mini. With a 6-core CPU — two performance cores and four efficiency cores — A17 Pro delivers a 30 percent boost in CPU performance.
A17 Pro also brings a boost in graphics performance with a 5-core GPU, delivering a 25 percent jump over the previous generation.
A17 Pro brings entirely new experiences — including pro apps used by designers, pilots, doctors, and others — and makes it faster than ever for users to edit photos, dive into more immersive AR applications, and more.
The new iPad mini brings true-to-life gaming with hardware-accelerated ray tracing — which is 4x faster than software-based ray tracing — as well as support for Dynamic Caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading. From creating engaging content faster than ever in Affinity Designer, to playing demanding, graphics-intensive AAA games.
Built for Apple Intelligence
Due to the power of the A17 Pro chip, the new iPad mini delivers support for the upcoming Apple Intelligence. Deeply integrated into iPadOS 18, Apple Intelligence harnesses the power of Apple silicon and Apple-built generative models to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks.
Many of the models that power Apple Intelligence run entirely on device, and Private Cloud Compute offers the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers.
The first set of Apple Intelligence features will be available in U.S. English this month through a free software update with iPadOS 18.1, and available for iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later.
According to Apple, Apple Intelligence delivers experiences that are intuitive, easy to use, and specially designed to help users do the things that matter most to them:
- With Writing Tools, users can refine their words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarising text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.
- Siri becomes more deeply integrated into the system experience and gets a new design with an elegant glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when active on iPad. With richer language-understanding capabilities, communicating with Siri is more natural and flexible. Siri can follow along when users stumble over their words, can maintain context from one request to the next, and now, users can type to Siri. Siri also has extensive product knowledge to answer questions about features on iPad and other Apple devices.
- In Photos, the Memories feature now enables users to create the movies they want to see by simply typing a description, and with the new Clean Up tool, they can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.
Additional Apple Intelligence features will be rolling out over the next several months:
- Image Playground allows users to create playful images in moments.
- Image Wand is a new tool in the Apple Pencil tool palette that can transform a rough sketch into a polished image.
- Emoji will be taken to an entirely new level with the ability to create original Genmoji by simply typing a description, or by selecting a photo of a friend or family member.
- Siri will be able to draw on a user’s personal context to deliver intelligence that is tailored to them. It will also gain onscreen awareness to understand and take action with users’ content, as well as take hundreds of new actions in and across Apple and third-party apps.
- With ChatGPT integrated into experiences within iPadOS 18, users have the option to access itsexpertise, as well as its image- and document-understanding capabilities, within Siri and Writing Tools without needing to jump between tools. And privacy protections are built in so a user’s IP address is obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. Users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for those who choose to connect their account.
Even Faster Connectivity
The new iPad mini supports Wi-Fi 6E, which delivers up to twice the performance than the previous generation, so users can download files, play games online, and stream movies even faster.
Wi-Fi + Cellular models with 5G allow users to access their files, communicate with peers, and back up their data in a snap while on the go. Cellular models of the new iPad mini are activated with eSIM, a more secure alternative to a physical SIM card, allowing users to quickly connect and transfer their existing plans digitally, and store multiple cellular plans on a single device.
Customers can easily get connected to wireless data plans on the new iPad mini in over 190 countries and regions around the world without needing to get a physical SIM card from a local carrier.
The USB-C port is now up to 2x faster than the previous generation, with data transfers up to 10Gbps, so importing large photos and videos is even quicker.
Camera
Great cameras, along with the incredibly portable form factor of iPad mini, enable powerful mobile workflows. The 12MP wide back camera delivers gorgeous photos, andwith Smart HDR 4, they will be even more detailed and vivid.
Utilising the powerful 16-core Neural Engine, the new iPad mini uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically identify documents right in the Camera app and can use the new True Tone flash to remove shadows from the document.
The 12MP Ultra Wide front-facing camera in portrait orientation, with support for Centre Stage, is great for all the ways customers use iPad mini.
Apple Pencil Pro
Apple Pencil Pro turns iPad mini into a sketchbook users can take anywhere. Apple Pencil Pro can sense a user’s squeeze, bringing up a tool palette to quickly switch tools, line weights, and colours, all without interrupting the creative process.
A custom haptic engine delivers a light tap that provides confirmation when users squeeze, double-tap, or snap to a Smart Shape for a remarkably intuitive experience. Users can roll Apple Pencil Pro for precise control of the tool they’re using.
Rotating the barrel changes the orientation of shaped pen and brush tools, just like pen and paper, and with Apple Pencil hover, users can visualise the exact orientation of a tool before making a mark.
Apple Pencil Pro features support for Find My, and pairs, charges, and is stored through a new magnetic interface on the new iPad mini. iPad mini also supports Apple Pencil (USB-C), ideal for note taking, sketching, annotating, journaling, and more, at a great value.
iPadOS 18
In addition to the capabilities of Apple Intelligence, iPadOS 18 brings powerful features that enhance the iPad experience, making it more versatile and intelligent than ever. iPadOS also has advanced frameworks like Core ML that make it easy for developers to tap into the Neural Engine to deliver powerful AI features right on device.
Designed for the unique capabilities of iPad, Calculator delivers an entirely new way to use Apple Pencil to solve expressions, as well as basic and scientific calculators with a new history function and unit conversions. With Math Notes, users are now able to type mathematical expressions or write them out to see them instantly solved in handwriting like their own. They can also create and use variables, and add an equation to insert a graph. Users can also access their Math Notes in the Notes app, and use all of the math functionality in any of their other notes.
In the Notes app, handwritten notes become more fluid, flexible, and easy to read with Smart Script and the power of Apple Pencil. Smart Script unleashes powerful new capabilities for users editing handwritten text, allowing them to easily add space, or even paste typed text in their own handwriting. And as users write with Apple Pencil, their handwriting will be automatically refined in real time to be smoother, straighter, and more legible.
With new Audio Recording and Transcription, iPad can capture a lecture or conversation, and transcripts are synced with the audio, so users can search for an exact moment in the recording.
New levels of customisation come to iPad, and users have even more options to express themselves through the Home Screen with app icons and widgets that can be placed in any open position. App icons and widgets can take on a new look with a dark or tinted effect, and users can make them appear larger to create the experience that is perfect for them. Control Centre has been redesigned to provide easier access to many of the things users do every day, delivering quick access to new groups of a user’s most-utilised controls. Users can even organise new controls from third-party apps in the redesigned Control Centre.
The Photos appreceives its biggest update ever, bringing users powerful new tools that make it easier to find what they are looking for with a simplified and customisable app layout that takes advantage of the larger display on iPad and helps users browse by themes without having to organise content into albums.
Users have new ways to stay connected and express themselves in Messages, with all-new animated text effects, redesigned Tapbacks, and the ability to schedule messages to send at a later time.
Pricing and Availability
Customers can pre-order the new iPad mini starting today, October 15, on apple.com/store, and in the Apple Store app in 29 countries and regions, including the U.K. It will begin arriving to customers, and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers, starting Wednesday, October 23.
Available in blue, purple, starlight, and space grey, the new iPad mini starts at £499 for the Wi-Fi model, and £649 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
The new iPad mini starts with 128GB of storage — double the storage of the previous generation. The new iPad mini is also available in 256GB and 512GB configurations.
For education, the new iPad mini starts at £449 . Education pricing is available to current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and home-school teachers of all grade levels. For more information, visit apple.com/us-hed/shop.
Apple Pencil Pro is compatible with the new iPad mini. It is available for £129, and £119 for education. Apple Pencil (USB-C) is available for £79 ,and £69 for education.
The new Smart Folio, available in charcoal grey, light violet, denim, and sage, is £59.
