The AI ready iPad Mini goes on sale today – First look

I think we can see how hard Apple is doubling down on Apple Intelligence when they make a simple minor update to a product in their range essentially just to enable the company’s play into A-I.

That’s the story of the brand new iPad Mini – known officially as “iPad Mini (A17 Pro)”, a far more complex name than simply calling it iPad Mini 7th Generation.

Compared physically to the outgoing model, this is identical, save for the absence of a small hole and notch where the SIM card try would be. For this new generation, there is no SIM Tray, instead, it’s eSIM only.

If you’ve shelled out for a fancy new WiFi system that supports WiFi 6E, great news, iPad Mini now supports 6E too!

Did I notice either of these things in my testing. No. But that’s exactly why they’re just simple upgrades.

Adding support for Apple Pencil pro is a stroke of genius to make this device even more appealing to those note-takers and artists out there. With so many stunning apps being made for iPad that allow for the twist or pinch and hover features this is a no-brainer.

The Pencil snaps on the side in a really neat spot, it’s basically the perfect size for the iPad mini in reality.

They come in Space Gray, Blue, Purple and Starlight – and honestly, in 2024 the colours are disappointing. Standard iPad pops with colour by comparison, and let’s not forget the stunning vibrance of the iPhone 16 range.

So yeah, I get it, it’s the same product and production line as the previous generation so all the fancy new methods they’ve found to improve colour vibrance aren’t there – but still, it’s a tough sell.

That said, I don’t imagine people upgrading from 6th gen – this is a huge pop up from the many iPads before that.

In reality the star of this show is the processor.

I did some Geekbench testing to see if we could articulate it’s power.

Sure, that makes for some great gaming performance, but in reality that A17 Pro chip is all about A-I. No, don’t call it Artificial Intelligence, we’re talking Apple Intelligence.

Not available today as the device ships and is in-stores, Apple Intelligence will be available in December. In thinking about how that plays out on an iPad I’d suggest the writing features giving you assistance in drafting and re-writing will be great, but also I think the iPad Mini is a portable productivity device, so the summaries of emails and text messages will be welcome.

In reality though, we’re yet to really scratch the surface.

Frankly, iPad mini (17 Pro) is in some ways a simple evolution.

But, the reality is that it will be part of a revolution, enabled for Apple Intelligence means it will do far more than any iPad that does not.

iPad mini is $799 but if you want it with WiFi and 5G you’ll pay $1049.

Storage gets a leap up too, now available in 128, 256 and 512 configurations.

And, it’s on-sale today.