After 37 months of waiting, Apple has unveiled its seventh-generation iPad mini tablet. The announcement was made today in a press release as opposed to a media event, and the modest changes to the new iPad mini include the following:
- Transition from the A15 to the A17 Pro chip (complete with a 5-core GPU)
- Support for the Apple Pencil Pro (albeit the tablet doesn’t support the second-generation Apple Pencil)
- 128GB of storage for the base model
- Smart HDR 3 has been upgraded to Smart HDR 4.
- Wi-Fi 6 improves to Wi-Fi 6E.
- Bluetooth 5.0 is now Bluetooth 5.3.
- It now comes with an eSIM only, and the nano-SIM slot has been removed.
- The charging port is USB 3.1 Gen 2, which supports speeds up to 10 Gbps, twice as fast as the prior gen.
The new iPad mini still arrives in space gray, starlight, and purple color options, but pink has been replaced with blue. The colors are also less saturated and vibrant.
The new iPad mini is available to pre-order now and will ship on Wednesday, October 23. It starts at $499/£499.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.