This iPad Mini was revealed alongside the iPhone 13 series and Apple Watch Series 7 at the Apple Event on September 24, 2021, and I’ve got to say, the hashflags to the #AppleEvent tweets were really cool!
Anyways moving on, Apple did a great job with giving the iPad Mini the facelift it deserved for the 6th Generation and everyone loved it! I did too! The retarded side of Apple is slowly disappearing with each year they face more competition. Although they still have a great influence on the market and removing the charging brick wasn’t really a nice thing to do…
First off, here are the basic features on a spec sheet.
| CPU | A15 Bionic chip with 64‑bit architecture 6‑core CPU 5-core graphics 16-core Neural Engine |
| Battery | Li-Ion, non-removable (19.3 Wh) |
| RAM | 4 GB |
| Storage | 64GB; 256GB |
| Cameras | 12MP Wide camera, ƒ/1.8 aperture 4K video recording at max 60 fps 12MP Ultra Wide front camera, 122° field of view; ƒ/2.4 aperture; 1080p HD video recording at max 60 fps |
| Screen | 8.3″Liquid Retina display (2266×1488) |
Design
The new iPad is a lot easier to use than the iPad Air 4 because of its small size. Its dimensions of 195.4 x 134.8 x 6.3mm that’s even smaller than the last-gen mini but the design here is more like the iPad Air 4 and the newer iPhones with the flat sides and the back. There are four color options: Purple, Pink, Space Gray, and Starlight (it’s a creamy white color). The iPad mini weighs 293 grams means it’s easy to slide into a bag – and even a large jacket pocket – and not feel the extra weight.
Apple has moved the buttons slightly on the new iPad mini, and you’ll now find the volume buttons are on the top edge, at the top right-hand corner, this shows Apple intending for the people to use it Horizontally. There’s also no home button on the iPad mini 2021 unlike the previous Generations and is a nice update to the Mini overall.
Display
The iPad mini features an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display, which offers decent image quality. Apple boasts it’s an “all-screen design”, but it’s far from an “all-screen design” but the sides are good enough for resting hands while using it.
The resolution is 2266 x 1488, which works out to 326 pixels per inch. That’s good for a tablet, but it isn’t the best resolution, it’s under Android and the other Pro Tablets by Apple. This display is also limited to just 60Hz of refresh rate which isn’t a dealbreaker but it is sad to see on a 2021 device.
What’s Under the Hood
The iPad mini 2021 is powered by Apple’s new A15 Bionic chipset under the hood shared with the iPhone 13 series and is powerful enough to run any app or game you’ll find on the App Store, as well as for multi-tasking. The RAM isn’t currently known but the device performs pretty well.
Geekbench gives the iPad Mini 2021 a multi-core score of 4700, similar to what was seen for the iPhone 13. It’s significantly better than the iPad mini (2019), which scored 2680, but nowhere near as high as the iPad Pro 2021 on 7297. You can buy the tablet with 64GB or 256GB of storage – as usual, there’s no microSD support, so you’ll be using the built-in storage and iCloud too
There’s also 5G connectivity on the iPad mini for the first time – although the tablet won’t be compatible with mmWave 5G, so if you’re a Verizon customer you may want to look into this before you purchase the tablet.
Cameras
The rear camera on the iPad mini is a 12MP wide snapper with an f/1.8 aperture and digital zoom up to 5x. It’s fine, and while it’s no substitute for your smartphone camera if you’re using it for augmented reality experiences, or with other apps that need to use the rear camera, it’ll be satisfactory.
On the front of the tablet is a 12MP ultra-wide camera with a 122-degree field of view and an f/2.4 aperture. This is a very effective camera for video calling, and we found the quality here is better than from the shooter on the rear of the device.
Software
The iPad mini comes with iPadOS 15 out of the box, Apple’s tablet-optimized operating system works good on Apple’s smaller-screen tablet too. iPadOS 15 brings updates such as widgets for your home screen, which are welcome on the new iPad mini. There’s also a new way to enable split-screen mode with just a tap, which is another nice improvement.
All these features really cool, I’m sold. It works like a device good for almost anbody but you’re not Anyone, You’re YOU, so how’d you like the iPad Mini 2021? Comment below and share your thoughts! We’d love to hear from you!
