Last week, Apple announced their latest line up of iPhones, iPads and the Apple Watch Series 7. The much anticipated upgrade has been to the iPad mini, which was first introduced in 2012, was given a Retina display in 2013, was last updated in 2019, and now two-and-a-half years later, is finally given a new design and significant bump in specs.
Over the years, there were rumours that Apple would phase out the iPad mini considering the increasing screen sizes for their iPhones, but the iPad mini seems to have held out, being in a unique category of its own. For a tablet, it’s really compact and light, but it has a display that’s much larger than the biggest smart phone (even the foldable ones).
Here’s a first look at the 6th generation of the iPad mini.
Above: The screen now features a larger, 8.3″ Liquid Retina Display with a resolution of 2266 x 1488. The physical button is gone, and it’s an all-screen design with squared-off edges.
Above: Here’s the all-screen display. There’s true tone colour and the screen offers up to 500 nits of brightness.
Above: The back of the ipad mini has a new 12mp wide camera with an f/1.8 aperture that supports apple’s centre stage function (this pans out to centre and include people detected, and is great for video calls and video content creation.)
Above: Close-up of the ipad mini in purple. There are 4 colours in total — space grey, pink, purple (featured here) and starlight (an ivory white).
Above: This is the top of the ipad mini. the power button includes a touch id fingerprint scanner, which is useful and necessary considering the ipad mini doesn’t have face id.
Above: this is the SMART FOLIO ($89) for the ipad mini. There are 5 colours in total — english lavender, dark cherry, electric orange, white and black (featured here).
Above: The smart folio folds into a triangle to support the ipad mini in a comfortable viewing angle.
Above: Here’s the size of the ipad mini compared to the IPAD PRO 12.9″.
Above: The new ipad mini offers support for the APPLE PENCIL 2nd generation. It magnetically snaps on to the side of the device to charge.
Above: the ipad mini is really compact and very handy to bring about and use. i can imagine bringing this along my photoshoots to connect to my camera, and transfer and edit photos on the spot.
Above: inside the box, there’s a 20W charger and a usb-c to usb-c cable. yes, the new ipad mini charges via a usb-c port, which means faster charging and easier connection to peripherals like cameras.
Using the iPad mini is a smooth, familiar experience; it feels speedy (no surprise here as it’s fitted with the super fast A15 Bionic chip and has 5G capabilities), is a joy to use with its all-screen design that’s clear and vivid, and has iPadOS 15 pre-installed.
I can imagine this being a great device for anyone — the student or working professional who can whip this out and jot down instant notes; photographers who want to travel light but appreciate a decent-sized screen to view live photos as they shoot; or just about any person looking to catch the latest show on Netflix or HBO GO, and wants a more satisfying screen rather than their smartphone. The most notable thing about the iPad mini is that it’s truly weightless (293g for Wi-Fi model, and 297g for Wi-Fi + Cellular model) and extremely slim and compact. You won’t notice it in your bag, and that makes it the perfect travel companion.
THE NEW IPAD MINI IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW, AND WILL BE IN STORES FROM FRIDAY 24 SEPTEMBER.
THE IPAD MINI HAS A STARTING PRICE OF $749 FOR WI-FI MODELS, AND $979 FOR WI-FI + CELLULAR MODELS. IT COMES IN 64GB AND 256GB CONFIGURATIONS, IN PINK, STARLIGHT, PURPLE, AND SPACE GREY FINISHES.
You must be logged in to post a comment.