It was a lean few years for the iPad. The tablet fell out of favor with Apple, as the company turned its focus to other categories like mobile, content, wearables, and mixed reality. The same could have been said about the Mac a few years prior, but the laptop/desktop has had a renaissance in Cupertino, thanks largely to the arrival of Apple Silicon.
One could argue that the iPad is experiencing its own moment. Apple certainly made a statement in May, when the M4 debuted on the new iPad Pros. It was the first time the M-series of desktop processors premiered on a non-Mac device.
At different times in its history, the iPad has hewed more closely to either the iPhone or Mac. The May news made it clear that at very least, Apple views the high end of its tablet line landing closer to the laptop side of things. At the same event, Apple brought M2 to the iPad Air. It was a 2-year-old chip, sure, but it still offered a lot of firepower for a little tablet.
Last week, the company updated the iPad Mini for the first time since 2021. Unlike the Pro and Air before it, the smallest member of the iPad family did not receive an M-series chip. Instead, Apple opted to outfit the 8.3-inch tablet with an A17 Pro — the same bit of silicon powering the new iPhone 16 Pro models.
With that move, the Mini leapfrogs the base iPad in compute power — though that is a result of the slate not receiving an update since the 10th gen arrived in 2022. Because of that discrepancy, the standard iPad is now several generations behind the Mini, with an A14 Bionic under the hood.
As a result, the Mini also leapfrogged the iPad in cost. The Wi-Fi version of the tablets now run $499 and $349, respectively, with the cellular/5G models coming in at $649 and $499. A $150 gulf is not insignificant, especially given the notable differences in screen sizes: 8.3 vs. 10.1 inches.
In spite of its smaller size, however, the Mini is a more premium device than the 10th-gen iPad. For one thing, the Mini manages to pack in nearly as many pixels with a 2,266 x 1,488 resolution to the iPad’s 2,360 x 1,640. This, in turn, comes courtesy of a substantially higher pixel density at 326 ppi to the iPad’s 264.
As a matter of fact, the new Mini has a higher pixel density than any other iPad. Higher pixel densities matter more the smaller the screen, as they’re able to fit more, sharper details into a smaller space. It’s no wonder, then, that even the iPad Mini scores well below the iPhone 16’s 460 ppi.
Apple’s irregular iPad release schedule has left the line in flux. As it stands now, however, the Mini outdoes the base iPad by pretty much ever metric, other than screen size. That is not an irrelevant detail, of course. In fact, the iPad Mini’s 8.3 inch screen size is almost exactly the halfway point between the iPad (10.1) and iPhone 16 Pro Max (6.3).
The Mini also occupies that liminal space as a tool. It is, for example, better for watching TV shows and movies than the iPhone, given its relatively large screen. But if entertainment is your primary driver, it’s difficult to make a case for the Mini over the Air, Pro, or even the base iPad.
To its credit, Apple is leaning into some key customer use cases with the welcome addition of Apple Pencil and Pencil Pro compatibility. At 7.69 x 5.3 inches, the tablet is a great size for taking notes and drawing. That’s certainly enhanced with the fully revamped version of Calculator, which is now a far more powerful math class companion.
Indeed, the tablet is well suited for the educational market in general. Its small size makes it a heck of a lot easier to toss into a backpack and pull out during a lecture. It’s also an ideal size for reading — though if that’s your primary application for a device like this, it may ultimately make more sense to invest in a devoted e-reader, like one of the new Kindles, as those devices are gentler on the eyes and offer significantly longer battery life than tablets.
The inclusion of the A17 Pro chip makes the Mini an interesting proposition in education for one more key reason: Apple Intelligence. As of this writing, current iPads — aside from the base model — will be able to run Apple’s small model generative AI platform. With that comes the ability to let iPadOS rewrite letters and other documents for you.
Having that sort of functionality baked into the operating system will only further serve to blur the lines when it comes to writing term papers. That said, there’s nothing in terms of text generation that Apple Intelligence can accomplish for which students don’t already have access to through platforms like ChatGPT.
As for the non-students of the world, the role of an iPad mini is less apparent. I’ve certainly found applications for the form factor that slot well into my own life. For example, I plan to keep my notes for my Disrupt panels on the little tablet at next week’s event. Personally speaking, however, I don’t feel there are enough use cases in my own life to warrant the purchase of a small tablet rather than a big iPhone or standard iPad.
If you do, the upgraded silicon, Apple Intelligence compatibility, and Pencil use are all compelling reasons to upgrade.
