Last September 14, Apple unveiled its new products in its annual product launch event. Although the tech company made impressive leaps with its upcoming iPhone 13 and Watch Series 7, the show-stealer was easily the new iPad Mini. Below, you will find everything you need to know about its highly-anticipated release.
Design
The new iPad Mini exhibits an all-screen design, removing the outdated home button on the front and replacing it with a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. It also packs an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display, and in four stunning finishes: Purple, Pink, Space Grey, and the newly-announced Starlight.
Aside from 500 nits of brightness, the device boasts a 2266×1488 resolution with a True Tone display, as well, which adapts the colour temperature of the surrounding light sources. Its P3 wide colour gamut partnered with an anti-reflective screen coating also shows images and videos in full vibrancy without causing eye strain.
Specifications
With its power supported by its compact hardware, the iPad Mini is perfect for graphics-rich activities, even on the go. This huge performance boost is thanks to the A15 Bionic chip installed, which is also found in the iPhone 13 series. The A15 chip is equipped with a high-density interconnect or HDI PCB that allows powerful hardware to be packed into a small space, without losing its functions. This makes the iPad capable of handling the most demanding tasks, with its CPU delivering 40% faster performance.
Its GPU also promises up to 80% improved graphics.
Moreover, the device can connect to low- and mid-band 5G networks, allowing faster wireless connectivity of up to 3.5 Gbps. Plus, with Gigabit LTE, eSim, and Wi-Fi 6, there is an added layer of flexibility for users to get and stay connected.
Software
This new iPad iteration will come with the iPadOS 15 software, which includes new machine learning and artificial intelligence functions. Powered by an updated 16-core Neural Engine, the iPad Mini will be able to use on-device intelligence for image recognition, natural language learning, and language translation.
Other features
The iPad Mini received big camera upgrades, too, with its 12MP front sensor. In addition, the center stage technology experience that has benefited iPad Pro users will now be enjoyed by those who purchase the new iPad Mini. This tool starts with a wide-angle camera capture, which digitally zooms in as needed, enabling users to keep themselves in the frame all the time.
This upgrade comes as the iPad Mini gets a 12MP rear camera with a wider f/1.8 aperture. Its True Tone flash feature perfectly captures images in low light, while its smart HDR features produce natural-looking shots. The rear camera can also shoot 4K videos at up to 60 fps.
The iPad Mini also supports the 2nd generation Apple Pencil, which snaps on the side magnetically.
The new iPad Mini is now available for pre-order and will hit retail shelves starting October 1. The price starts at 499 USD (around ₹46,900) for the base models, and 649 USD (around ₹60,900) for cellular models.