It was a series of firsts for Apple’s latest iPad range—a new M4 chip, the thinnest iPad device, a 13-inch iPad Air. Now, out of the blue, Apple drops the iPad Mini on us. The last generation was released in 2021 and, in all honesty, we’ve forgotten about it. It’s like a long-lost uncle showing up at a family reunion after being out at sea. So, it’s quite an entrance for the new iPad Mini but can it leave a lasting impression? Let us count the ways.
Like many of Apple’s latest products, this iPad Mini supports Apple Intelligence (which at this point of writing, still hasn’t come out yet). This is what is marketed: the iPad Mini’s AI will extrapolate your personal context and make writing easier or edit and create images based on prompts. Like an assistant but one who doesn’t roll their eyes when you casually ask what “skibidi” means.
The latest Apple Pencil Pro can be used with the iPad Mini. It does all the things like barrel rolling and when you hover your Pencil Pro over the screen, a preview shows where the tip will land on the display. And maybe this is a personal preference but the iPad Mini’s 8.3” is the perfect size for jotting down notes or sketching. It’s my preferred dimension for reading a book or watching a movie. And seeing the 6.53” long Pencil Pro docked on the side of the iPad Mini’s frame looks… right.
It comes in four colours—including blue and purple—and it supports 5G. Touch ID is still on the top button; there’s a USB-C port; a 12MP wide back camera and a 12MP front-facing camera for that quality Zoom meeting… except while the other iPad models shifted their front-facing camera to the middle of the landscape side, the iPad Mini’s front camera remains stubbornly in portrait. I mean, video conferencing is still doable but the front camera placement is jarring. The iPad Mini has the A17 Pro chip that was used in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max… except the iPad Mini has five GPU cores, one less than the iPhone 15’s. And sure, it might have levelled up from the iPad Mini’s last generation model but having tried the iPad Pro, the iPad Mini feels a tad inadequate.
But it's not about choosing the best but, rather, what fits your need. If we consider the iPad Mini as an easy-to-carry sketchpad/e-book/TV that’s an upgrade from its previous generation, compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro, has (may have?) Apple Intelligence and doesn’t break the bank, then, yes, this is the device you’re looking for.
The iPad Mini retails from SGD699
