Apple’s newly-announced iPad Mini is well-prepared to grow with AI, featuring an A17 Pro chip and support for the company’s new Apple Intelligence system.
Geared towards AI and portability, Apple has now announced the next generation of the iPad Mini, complete with a new chip and integration with Apple Intelligence. Despite boosting its AI performance, it stays compact with an 8.3-inch design.
The new model will be available in four colors, including new-to-Apple blue and purple options. The updated iPad Mini starts from $499 for 128GB of storage (double the minimum storage of the previous generation) and with Wi-Fi and $649 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model, coming in both 256GB and 512GB configurations.
Pre-orders begin today, with availability starting October 23. A new Smart Folio, available in charcoal gray, light violet, denim, and sage, is also available for $59.
The chip upgrade results in a 30% boost in CPU performance 25% increase in GPU performance when compared to the generation before.
As well as integrating with Apple Intelligence, the iPad Mini also has wider support across other Apple tools, including the Pencil Pro, as well as Wi-Fi 6E support, faster USB-C data transfer, and an upgraded 12MP wide camera with Smart HDR 4.
The pencil support means pressure sensitivity, haptic feedback, and gesture controls but also means the latest Apple Intelligence features, like improved writing tools, image generation, and task automation, will be available on the next generation of iPad Mini.
What’s new with the iPad mini 7:
🌈 New blue and purple colors
⚡️ Faster A17 Pro chip
🧠 Apple Intelligence support
🛜 Wi-Fi 6E support
📡 Bluetooth 5.3 support
🤳 12MP camera with Smart HDR 4
✏️ Apple Pencil Pro support
🔌 Faster USB-C port (with USB 3 speeds)
🗄️ New 128GB… pic.twitter.com/EGp2MA2wdK— Apple Hub (@theapplehub) October 15, 2024
What is Apple Intelligence?
The first wave of Apple Intelligence features will be available from October onwards with a gradual rollout in US English via the software update, iPadOS 18.1.
Some of the initial features include Writing Tools, where users can refine their writing across Apple apps like Mail, Notes, Pages, and some third-party apps, a more integrated Siri across internal systems (with richer language-understanding capabilities), and tools in Photos like Memories, where users can create movies with text-based prompts, and the new Clean Up tool, where people can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo.
Future plans for Apple Intelligence include integration with ChatGPT, Image Wand, where the Pencil can transform a rough sketch into a polished image, and Siri able to draw on a user’s personal history to better inform its responses.
Featured image: Apple