Apple launched the new iPad mini yesterday, supercharged by the A17 Pro chip and Apple Intelligence, the easy-to-use personal intelligence system that understands personal context to deliver intelligence that is helpful and relevant while protecting user privacy.
With an ultraportable design, the new iPad mini is available in four finishes, including a new blue and purple, and features an 8.3in. Liquid Retina display. The A17 Pro chip delivers a performance boost for even the most demanding tasks, with a faster CPU and GPU, a 2x faster Neural Engine than the previous-generation iPad mini, and support for Apple Intelligence. The versatility and advanced capabilities of the new iPad mini are taken to a whole new level with support for Apple Pencil Pro, opening up entirely new ways to be even more productive and creative.
The 12MP wide back camera supports Smart HDR 4 for natural-looking photos with increased dynamic range and uses machine learning to detect and scan documents right in the Camera app.
Take a look below for some of the other top things to know about the new iPad mini.
• The first set of Apple Intelligence features will be available in American English this month through a free software update with iPadOS 18.1, and available for iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later.• With faster wireless and wired connectivity, users can do even more on iPad mini while on the go. The new iPad mini supports Wi-Fi 6E, which delivers up to twice the performance than the previous generation, so users can download files, play games online and stream movies even faster.• The 12MP wide back camera delivers an incredible camera experience; it supports Smart HDR 4 for natural-looking photos with increased dynamic range, and uses machine learning to detect and scan documents right in the Camera app.
For creating
The new iPad mini supports Apple Pencil Pro, unlocking magical capabilities and powerful interactions, turning iPad mini into a sketchbook users can take anywhere. Apple Pencil Pro can sense a user’s squeeze, bringing up a tool palette to quickly switch tools, line weights, and colours, all without interrupting the creative process.
For gaming
The new iPad mini brings true-to-life gaming with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which is 4x faster than software-based ray tracing, as well as support for Dynamic Caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading. From creating engaging content faster than ever in Affinity Designer, to playing demanding, graphics-intensive AAA games like Zenless Zone Zero, users can take the powerful performance and ultraportable iPad mini anywhere.
For studying, journaling and more
• With iPadOS 18, Calculator delivers an entirely new way to use Apple Pencil to solve expressions, as well as basic and scientific calculators with a new history function and unit conversions. With Math Notes, users are now able to type mathematical expressions or write them out to see them instantly solved in handwriting like their own. They can also create and use variables, and add an equation to insert a graph.
• In the Notes app, handwritten notes become more fluid, flexible and easy to read with Smart Script and the power of Apple Pencil. Smart Script unleashes powerful new capabilities for users editing handwritten text, allowing them to easily add space, or even paste typed text in their own handwriting. And as users write with Apple Pencil, their handwriting will be automatically refined in real time to be smoother, straighter and more legible.
Additional Apple Intelligence features will be rolling out over the next several months:
• Image Playground allows users to create playful images in moments.• Image Wand is a new tool in the Apple Pencil tool palette that can transform a rough sketch into a polished image.• Emoji will be taken to an entirely new level with the ability to create original Genmoji by simply typing a description, or by selecting a photo of a friend or family member.• Siri will be able to draw on a user’s personal context to deliver intelligence that is tailored to them. It will also gain onscreen awareness to understand and take action with users’ content, as well as take hundreds of new actions in and across Apple and third-party apps.• With ChatGPT integrated into experiences within iPadOS 18, users have the option to access its expertise, as well as its image- and document-understanding capabilities, within Siri and Writing Tools without needing to jump between tools. And privacy protections are built in so a user’s IP address is obscured and OpenAI won’t store requests. Users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account and ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for those who choose to connect their account.
The new iPad mini starts at B17,900 with 128GB — double storage of the previous generation. Visit apple.com.
