Quick Thoughts on Apple's iPad Mini 7th Generation

Apple’s updated the iPad Mini overnight with a slew of new features — but is Apple’s smallest tablet still worth getting excited about? Here’s my early thoughts.

The iPad Mini has always been a curious part of the iPad lineup; it was originally a real low-cost option because having a smaller screen meant you were getting “less” iPad, but recent generations have more focused on power and portability rather than offering the lowest-price iPad you can buy.

I’ll be upfront here and say that the iPad Mini isn’t particularly the one that I’ve recommended to people for some time; while it’s been a fair gap between refreshes — the last generation dates from 2021 — the higher price never quite made enough sense to me relative to what you could do with it, but I do know that the pint-sized approach does have its fans.

So what are we getting from the iPad mini 7th Generation?

Apple iPad Mini 7th Generation: Alex's Early Thoughts

There's a lot of what are essentially predictable upgrades to the iPad Mini 7th Generation, because they're in line with Apple's general approach to tablet upgrades over time.

The bump up to the A17 Pro -- making the iPad Mini 7th Generation in effect a slightly larger iPhone 15 Pro should give it a nice performance boost.

Not quite a Steam Deck or Switch, but I can see the fun in having decent gaming power on the go on an iPad.

At tablet sizes there's real scope to use the power in Apple's higher-end processors in more effective ways, though the smaller screen will have an impact on quite how much multi-tasking you might want to do. I suspect the multi-tasking laptop-replacing crowd will still be happier with an iPad Pro.

The iPad Mini 7th Generation is only slightly taller than the Apple Pencil.

For my own reasons -- and this is 100% subjective -- I do like blue technology products, so while the iPad Mini 7th Generation's size isn't my jam, the new colour choice most definitely is.

It's interesting to note that if you opt for the iPad Mini 7th Generation in its Wi-Fi+Cellular iteration, it's only available with an eSIM, not a physical SIM of any type. That's a step that Apple's taken with its iPhone lines in the US for the past couple of generations, but not here yet.

Then again, adding eSIM to an iPad Mini 7th Generation not only adds a few grams to the weight, but also depletes your wallet by an additional $250. That's quite the pricey eSIM you've got there, Apple!

Not too much I think to get excited about in the camera space beyond perhaps document scanning, but then tablets have long been the worst way to capture really compelling images.

Tablet cameras: Great for video calls, generally poor for actually nice images.

Apple of course is putting a hefty push behind Apple Intelligence, noting that the power of the A17 Pro means that the iPad Mini 7th Generation will be capable of using Cupertino's particular take on AI when it arrives later this year for Australian users.

I'm still not 100% sold on the true utility of consumer-facing AI, but there's scope here for interest if features like rewriting of your text on the fly appeals to you. It makes me shudder, but then I do have a rather obvious bias there in preferring actual human-produced content.

I would encourage people to learn how to write themselves; it's quite a good working and life skill.

The new iPad Mini 7th Generation is available from today for pre-order with availability from the 23rd of October, which is only next Wednesday. I've reached out to Apple to chase up a review model if feasible, so watch this space...