Apple has announced its all-new iPad Mini. It features a new enclosure with narrower bezels and rounded corners. The big news is that it’s larger than the iPad Mini 5 with an 8.3-inch display (up from its predecessor’s 7.9-inch panel), making the device even more viable as a driver for multitasking or schoolwork. Apple says the screen can reach 500 nits of brightness and comes with anti-reflective coating.
The iPad Mini is currently Apple’s smallest tablet, even with the bump in size. Apple was rumored to have been considering a Mini LED display on the new iPad, similar to that of its largest iPad Pro. Those appear to have missed the mark; the new Mini sports a regular Liquid Retina display.
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Image: Apple
The iPad Mini’s design has remained largely consistent since its 2012 debut. The new model is something of a shake-up to the traditional build, featuring slimmer borders than the iPad Mini 5 and new color options including pink, purple, and “starlight”, in addition to space gray.
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Image: Apple
The new tablet also features a USB-C port (with up to 5Gbps data transfer), Touch ID on the top button (still no Face ID), a new landscape stereo speaker system, and upgraded 12MP cameras on the front and back, including a shooter with True Tone flash and Focus Pixels on the rear and a new 12MP ultrawide camera on the front, which will support Apple’s Center Stage feature. It also supports Wi-Fi 6 and optional 5G (with download speeds up to 3.5Gbps) as well as the second-generation Apple Pencil, which attaches magnetically to the iPad and charges wirelessly.
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The enclosure also incorporates 100 percent recycled aluminum; the solder of the main logic board includes 100 percent recycled tin, and the enclosure magnets and speakers are 100 percent recycled rare earth elements. Apple claims you can expect 40 percent faster CPU performance and 80 percent faster GPU performance, as well as all-day battery life, with the new A15 Bionic chip.
The new iPad Mini is up for order today and will be in stores on September 24th starting at $499. Cellular models start at $649. The new Smart Folio costs $59, and the second-generation iPad Pencil is available for $129.
