You’ll have to wait a bit longer
The iPad mini had a new lease of life with the release of the sixth-gen tablet in 2021, offering a substantial upgrade compared what came before it.
As well as a boosted 8.3-inch display in the same form factor as its older sibling, the iPad mini 6 sports a refined design similar to that of the iPad Air and iPad Pro, along with A15 Bionic performance and support for the second-gen Apple Pencil.
It’s a great tablet, but the upcoming seventh generation will likely be a more minor update. Here’s everything you need to know about its potential release date, pricing and key specs.
When will the new iPad mini 7 be released?
iPad mini launches are all over the place, especially when compared to other Apple products.
For context, here’s when the last few generations have launched:
- iPad mini 6: September 2021
- iPad mini 5: March 2019
- iPad mini 4: September 2015
Earlier in the year, we saw new iPad Air and the iPad Pro models but we’re still owed an iPad mini 7 and iPad 11th-gen.
The next possible launch event was for the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch Series 10 but no new iPads were seen. This means we’ll have to wait and see if Apple does another event in October or November which could include these two new models.
However, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, known for reliable Apple insights, suggests that a new iPad mini “won’t be coming before the end of the year at the earliest”.
How much will the new iPad 7 mini cost?
The iPad mini used to be one of the more affordable options in Apple’s tablet collection, but that all changed with the iPad mini 6. Here’s how much it cost at launch:
- iPad mini 6 (Wi-Fi, 64GB) – £479 / $499
- iPad mini 6 (Wi-Fi, 256GB) – £619 / $649
- iPad mini 6 (Wi-Fi + Cellular, 64GB) – £619 / $649
- iPad mini 6 (Wi-Fi + Cellular, 256GB) – £759 / $799
It’s unlikely Apple will reduce prices back down closer to the iPad mini 5’s $399/£399 anytime soon. But further price rises are also unlikely, especially if the upgrades are only minor.
However, we may see prices in the UK reduced to match the US figures, as we’ve seen on some other Apple products – so $499/£499, rather than $499/£569.
What specs and features will the new iPad mini 7 have?
There are plenty of leaks and rumours regarding what to expect from the iPad mini 7. We expect that the new iPad mini will feature a more impressive processor, alongside some small internal improvements.
Design
With such a dramatic redesign on the sixth-generation iPad mini, it’s unlikely that Apple will implement any noticeable design changes on the next-gen tablet – especially when you consider that, entry-level iPad aside, all iPhones and iPads share the same design language.
That’s not to say we wouldn’t like to see any changes made to the small-screen tablet. While the 8.3-inch iPad mini 6 offers a greatly improved design with slim bezels, a lightweight form factor and the jump to USB-C, there is one big omission: a smart connector.
The smart connector is available on the iPad Air and both variants of iPad Pro, offering a way to connect Apple’s superior Magic Keyboard to turn the iPad into something resembling a traditional laptop, but it’s not present on the iPad mini 6. That leaves the small-screen tablet at a disadvantage compared to the almost-identical iPad Air.
So, while not confirmed, we’d love to see a smart connector (and accompanying Magic Keyboard) on the iPad mini 7.
Foundry
The iPad mini is currently available in space grey, pink, purple, and starlight. It’s probable that it will adopt some of the colours introduced with the iPad Air’s redesign in 2021, such as silver, rose gold, green, and sky blue.
With the bold colour choices of the iPad 10th generation, the iPad mini may see a new palette. However, the iPhone 15’s introduction of light colours leaves uncertainty about Apple’s direction for the iPad mini’s colour options.
Display
According to a Korean forum post (shared on Twitter by @FronTron), the iPad mini’s 8.3-inch display will be upgraded with 120Hz ProMotion support.
We know what you’re thinking: that makes absolutely no sense if it’s a standard iPad mini and not an iPad mini Pro, and usually I’d agree. ProMotion is certainly a feature that Apple associates with Pro-level products, making an appearance on the iPad Pro, iPhone 13 Pro and MacBook Pro, so introducing it on a non-pro iPad would muddy the waters.
However, it all comes down to one issue: jelly scrolling. Jelly scrolling was a hot topic at the launch of the iPad mini 6, with some users noting a tiny delay in the screen’s refresh rate when scrolling that created a wobbly effect not dissimilar to jelly.
Contrary to popular belief, this is normal behaviour for LCD screens. LCD panels refresh line by line, and there’s a tiny delay between when the lines at the top and bottom are refreshed.
It’s more noticeable on the iPad mini 6 than most other small LCD displays, however, and while it hasn’t been officially acknowledged by Apple, it’s something that a lot of users have noticed – including this writer. It’s also something that’d be virtually unnoticeable to the naked eye if the refresh rate was cranked up from 60Hz to 120Hz.
However, analyst Ross Young suggested it wouldn’t happen back in June 2022:
We think it’s also possible that Apple could push an interim 90Hz display to the small-screen tablet, but that’s only speculation at this stage. And there probably won’t be any changes to the current 8.3-inch screen size.
On a side note, Apple is also reportedly developing an iPad with a folding display, but it’s unlikely to be implemented in this model.
Performance
It’s safe to assume that the next iPad mini will be more powerful than the current tablet, but it’s currently unclear as to what chipset it’ll feature.
Mark Gurman at Bloomberg said in April 2024 that “the iPad mini update won’t include much more than a processor upgrade”. Back in January 2022, Ming-Chi Kuo also claimed that the new processor will be “the main selling point” suggesting that little else will change on the next-gen tablet.
At the time, Kuo didn’t specify the processor, but it’s now anticipated to feature the A16 chip, similar to the one found in the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 15 models. The rumour comes via the same Korean forum post mentioned above, which suggests Apple is working on an iPad mini with the same A15 Bionic as the existing iPad mini, but at an increased 3.23GHz clock speed.
You see, while the iPad mini shares the same A15 Bionic as the iPhone 13 series, it’s a slower clock speed – 2.9GHz vs 3.2GHz – and that results in a slight decrease in performance when compared side-by-side.
The increased clock speed of the new A15 Bionic could offer a boost in performance compared to the existing iPad mini without Apple having to manufacture more of its (presumably more complex) next-gen chipset. That’ll allegedly be accompanied by the same 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage as the current model.
However, it would be wise for Apple to upgrade it to at least 8GB/128GB, considering challenging higher-quality cameras and software. Similarly, increasing the maximum storage to 512GB would be logical, especially if the baseline storage moves up to 128GB.
Foundry
The original post mentions an iPad mini Pro, not the seventh-gen tablet, so the above could apply to an interim Pro-focused iPad mini released sometime between now and the release of the iPad mini 7. It could also be just a rumour, so take this one with a hefty pinch of salt.
Elsewhere, we’re also hoping for improvements to the cameras, battery life and charging speeds, but there are no rumours regarding these so far.
We’ll update this article once more is revealed. In the meantime, see our guides to the best iPads and best tablets.
