Apple iPad mini launched with Apple Intelligence, Apple Pencil Pro support

While the iPhone is refreshed every year, not all of Apple’s products get the same treatment. One such product is the Apple iPad mini – the compact entry in Apple’s tablet lineup, which had not been updated with a newer variant since 2021. To set some context, that was the same year as the iPhone 13, and the tablet was powered by the rather dated A15 Bionic chip.

For the past three years, that meant users looking for a small Apple tablet had to either settle for older hardware or upgrade to one of the bigger, or more expensive iPads. Thankfully, that isn’t the case anymore, and Apple finally has a new iPad mini.

Here’s everything you need to know about the new Apple iPad mini 7, its features, accessory support along with pricing and availability details.

Apple iPad mini 7: What’s new?

Apple’s new iPad is a refreshed version of the same fundamentals that the iPad mini is known for. It comes with an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and is now powered by the Apple A17 Pro chipset. That’s the same chip that powers Apple’s Pro iPhones from last year – the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

While the A17 series is not Apple’s latest (those would be the A18 chips on the iPhone 16 series), the inclusion of the chips does mean that the new iPad mini is eligible for Apple Intelligence.

ALSO READ: What is Apple Intelligence?

In essence, the new compact tablet will be able to use all Apple Intelligence features that have been announced so far like writing tools, custom emojis and more. The new chip also brings an NPU that is twice as fast as the one on the last iPad mini.

Apple Pencil Pro support

The iPad mini 2024 (which you can also call the iPad mini 7) also comes with support for the Apple Pencil Pro. This lets users sketch, write or draw on the tablet, just like you could on the iPad Pro, although some high-end features may still be locked to the Pro iPads.

Other features include a 12MP wide camera sensor on the back with support for Apple’s Smart HDR 4 computations. There’s also a 12MP front camera for selfies and video calls.

The new iPad minis also get twice the storage as the last iPad mini, and now start at 128GB, although 256GB and 512GB variants are also available. Lastly, we now have support for Wi-Fi 6E, which means faster Wi-Fi if you have a Wi-FI 6E router.

Apple iPad mini 7 price in India

The new Apple iPad mini starts at Rs 49,900 for the Wi-Fi only model, and Rs 64,900 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. That puts the tablet around Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE, and almost twice the price of more affordable mid-range tablets like the OnePlus Pad.

The tablet will also be available in multiple colours, including blue, purple, Starlight, and Space Grey. Availability for the tablet starts later this month from October 23.