Hands-On With the New iPad Mini 7

[MNGR]

Today is the official launch date of the iPad mini 7, which is the first new iPad mini that we've had since 2021. It has a much faster chip and a few other tweaks, so we thought we'd check it out and do a quick review.

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Apple didn't change the design of the iPad mini 7 compared to the iPad mini 6, and it's tough to tell them apart from the outside. The colors are more muted this time around, with Apple eliminating pink and adding blue, and the text on the back now says "iPad mini" instead of "iPad." Other than that, the iPad mini 6 and iPad mini 7 are identical.

Inside, there's a faster A17 Pro chip that's a notable improvement over the A15 Bionic, but depending on what you do with your iPad mini, you might not notice huge gains in performance. If you play games, it's going to be a lot faster, plus there's now support for ray tracing and mesh shading, features that enable console-quality games like Death Stranding.

The major draw of the A17 Pro is support for Apple Intelligence, and the first AI features are set to come out next week in iPadOS 18.1. Right now, Apple Intelligence is limited to Writing Tools, a new look for Siri, summaries, and smart replies, but Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT integration, and more will be coming in iPadOS 18.2, an update Apple started testing just today.

At $499, the iPad mini 7 is only $100 less than the more capable and larger M2 iPad Air, so it's kind of a niche product. It's not worth choosing an iPad mini over an iPad Air unless you specifically want the smaller 8.3-inch size for portability.

With all of the changes internal, the iPad mini 7 is somewhat of a boring update and there's not a lot to say about it. Along with the A17 Pro, you get 8GB RAM (up from 4GB), Wi-Fi 6E support (for connecting to faster 6GHz networks when available), Bluetooth 5.3, faster USB-C transfer speeds, Apple Pencil Pro support, and higher 128GB base starting storage.

Did you get an iPad mini 7 or plan to? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Article Link: Hands-On With the New iPad Mini 7

We like the smaller size.
Receiving delivery today

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Not really seeing anything «wobbly» when scrolling here on MR:

Except my own shaking hand while filming… 😝

 

[MrGimper]

Think I’d rather pay the extra £140 and get an Apple refurb 11” M2 Pro

 

[Knightayres1]

What is the MacRumors conclusion and stance on the Jelly Scroll situation?

I think they fixed the jelly roll on the “newer” 6 mini’s. My new one doesn’t do it. But when I bought one in 2021 it did

 

[turbineseaplane]

Not really seeing anything «wobbly» when scrolling here on MR:


View attachment 2440960

Except my own shaking hand while filming… 😝

I see it
It looks reduced from the worst that I've seen on Mini 6's though

 

[darkmatter343]

I tried the 7 at the Apple Store and the jelly scroll was quite clearly still present. It’s been a while since I’ve used a 6, but it’s not even like I had to look hard, just loaded up a site and it was hard to ignore. Granted… the e majority of users don’t and won’t care, but it’s there.

In landscape mode there was obviously none.

 

[joshuaiz]

At least for me the target demographic for the Mini is my 5-year-old son. Yes we regulate his screen time but we just upgraded to a 6 from a very slow 3 a few months ago and don't see any need to upgrade to the 7. The speed improvements from a 3 to a 6 were enough and I can't see him needing Apple Intelligence anytime soon. He needs to work on his intelligence first.

 

[Johnny907]

Protip: skip ahead to 4:27 for content of any real useful substance.

 

[Johnny907]

Watch this at 11:01 mark, jelly scrolling is still there but less severe it seems like

WTH, Apple? I owned the original Mini, the 4 and the 5 and this was NEVER an issue. It’s the biggest complaint users and non-buyers quoted in regards to the Mini 6 but you still didn’t fix it?

 

[turbineseaplane]

WTH, Apple? I owned the original Mini, the 4 and the 5 and this was NEVER an issue. It’s the biggest complaint users and non-buyers quoted in regards to the Mini 6 but you still didn’t fix it?

People keep buying it and so they just don’t care.

They’d rather print money with repackaging old components (case and screen) with some mix of updated parts (also leftovers, but from phones)

 

[KPOM]

I didn't even realize people were paying $499 or these. that's crazy

That’s been the price for the past 3 years. They just doubled the memory and base storage.

 

[applegeek2024]

2024, and we are still staring at this thick ass bezel... I really can't

 

[KPOM]

WTH, Apple? I owned the original Mini, the 4 and the 5 and this was NEVER an issue. It’s the biggest complaint users and non-buyers quoted in regards to the Mini 6 but you still didn’t fix it?

It existed in the 4 and 5, but was visible only in landscape mode. They changed the orientation of the display for the 6 and thus it became more noticeable.

 

[1BadManVan]

Hard to justify this over a much more powerful m2 air for not much more but i guess some people really like the size. For me, if want something bigger than my pro max screen, i go to my 11” air or my 13” MacBook. I’ve played with the mini a few times and didn’t see the appeal for the price they’re asking for them

 

[code-m]

Jelly still present; pass, wait another 3 years.

Lazy hardware update tbh, just like some of its other recent products. I guess this is recession fears.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Like MR said:
A17 Pro
8GB RAM
Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth 5.3
Apple Pencil Pro support.

That is a very reasonable update.

 

[turbineseaplane]

That’s been the price for the past 3 years. They just doubled the memory and base storage.

To specs that should have been the base about 7 years ago, but yes I agree, it's nice they finally did

 

[turbineseaplane]

A17 Pro

Old phone chip

8GB RAM

Should have been standard 7 years ago

Wi-Fi 6E

Fine - not great or forward looking, but fine

Bluetooth 5.3

Passable

Apple Pencil Pro support.

You have to buy a new Pencil if you had one with the nearly identical iPad Mini 6

An update that would have been pro-consumer, would be this same Mini 7 with a price cut at the base .. back to where iPad Mini 5's started -- or at least down to $449 ... and also knocking off the extreme gouging for GPS/Cellular

 

[Slix]

Man, the commenters here really are in the wrong demographic of people for the iPad mini's audience. Most average people who want a smaller iPad don't care how new the chip is, how buttery the screen is with 60hz vs 120hz, or how much RAM is in there. Heck, I'd argue most users in the market for an iPad mini would be able to use an iPad mini 5 for most tasks they need.

Old phone chip

Should have been standard 7 years ago

Fine - not great or forward looking, but fine

Passable

You have to buy a new Pencil if you had one with the nearly identical iPad Mini 6

An update that would have been pro-consumer, would be this same Mini 7 with a price cut at the base .. back to where iPad Mini 5's started -- or at least down to $449 ... and also knocking off the extreme gouging for GPS/Cellular

7 years ago? You really think the iPad mini should have had 8GB of RAM in 2017, when the iPad Pro at the time only had 4? Heck, even the MacBook Air only just got 8GB standard starting in 2017.

That said, the iPad mini should be cheaper than it is currently, for those people, but at least we got double storage on the base model now.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Old phone chip

Should have been standard 7 years ago

Fine - not great or forward looking, but fine

Passable

You have to buy a new Pencil if you had one with the nearly identical iPad Mini 6

An update that would have been pro-consumer, would be this same Mini 7 with a price cut at the base .. back to where iPad Mini 5's started -- or at least down to $449 ... and also knocking off the extreme gouging for GPS/Cellular

So stick with the cheap Android choices, there are many.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Most average people who want a smaller iPad don't care how new the chip is, how buttery the screen is with 60hz vs 120hz, or how much RAM is in there

What data are you basing that off of?

 

[turbineseaplane]

7 years ago? You really think the iPad mini should have had 8GB of RAM in 2017, when the iPad Pro at the time only had 4? Heck, even the MacBook Air only just got 8GB standard starting in 2017.

You realize you're defending not having reasonable base RAM amounts by citing Apple's other products, on which they've also been screwing customers on RAM?

Apple has been screwing people on RAM for over a decade -- on purpose -- to overcharge the heck out of people for upgrades

That's the business model.... well, one of them I should say

 

[GMShadow]

You realize your defending not having reasonable base RAM amounts by citing Apple's other products, on which they've also been screwing customers on RAM?

Apple has been screwing people on RAM for over a decade -- on purpose -- to overcharge the heck out of people for upgrades

That's the business model.... well, one of them I should say

How was Apple overcharging on RAM upgrades for the iPad Mini?

If you don't like the product, don't buy it. It gets tiresome seeing 39824098e+10 negative comments in every iPad mini thread because it doesn't hover in the air and wipe the users butt.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Anyone claiming that "iPad Mini buyers don't want more features" needs to understand the chicken and the egg problem.

Apple has never made a Mini with specs more in line with a Pro device

It's pure speculation for anyone to claim there is no market there

 

[NvidiaIntelPC]

What is the MacRumors conclusion and stance on the Jelly Scroll situation?

Multiple YouTube tech channels confirmed it’s gone.