If the size of time between upgrades is any type of measuring stick, then we must always quickly see an replace to Apple’s diminutive iPad mini. In any case, it’s now simply over two years for the reason that iPad mini 6 debuted, and in that point, we’ve seen a brand new M1-powered iPad Air, a pair of M2-powered iPads Professional, and a brand new Tenth-generation iPad that adopts the fashionable design.
This makes the iPad mini 6 the oldest iPad that Apple nonetheless sells, tied with the ninth-generation iPad — the one that also has a house button and a Lightning port. Whereas it’s truthful to say that the iPad mini hasn’t been an enormous precedence for Apple recently, it’s nonetheless truthful to say it’s overdue for a minimum of a primary refresh.
To be truthful, the iPad mini 6 remains to be forward of its lower-priced cousins. It packs in the identical A15 chip used within the iPhone 14, whereas the Tenth-gen iPad is powered by the older A14 chip from the iPhone 12 period. It additionally options the identical laminated anti-reflective display screen and P3 extensive shade gamut as the newest iPad Air and might deal with the second-generation Apple Pencil.
Since 2019, the iPad mini has successfully sat in Apple’s mid-tier iPad lineup as a smaller counterpart to the iPad Air. The 2019 releases had practically similar specs apart from their apparent dimension variations; nonetheless, in 2020, the iPad Air pulled forward with its new design, side-mounted Contact ID sensor, and A14 chip.
This started what appears to have been a leapfrogging development, the place the iPad Air and iPad mini get up to date in alternating years. The 2021 iPad mini 6 — the present mannequin — was up to date in 2021 with an A15 chip and a brand new design, placing it barely forward of the iPad Air. Nonetheless, that lead solely lasted for about six months, with an early 2022 iPad Air shocking everybody by adopting Apple’s M1 chip from the Mac.
If that even-odd-year launch development continues, an iPad mini 7 may arrive any day now, with the most important query being whether or not Apple will carry it again on par with the iPad Air by adopting an M1 chip or stick to its A-series silicon. If the latter, it will presumably be an A16 because it’s extraordinarily unlikely Apple would put its flagship A17 Professional chip right into a pill that always looks like an afterthought for the corporate.
Equally, should you have been hoping for an enormous display screen improve, we now have some dangerous (however unsurprising) information. A submit on X from @Tech_Reve shared by MacRumors reveals that the upcoming iPad mini “nonetheless doesn’t have 120Hz,” with the most important (and maybe solely) change anticipated to be a brand new A-series processor.
The submit additionally mentions the “jelly scrolling” problem, a standard LCD-based scrolling drawback that was by some means amplified on the iPad mini 6 show, resulting in hypothesis that Apple could have been planning to undertake a 120Hz ProMotion show for its subsequent iPad mini.
Nonetheless, these theories all the time appeared like wishful pondering from the beginning. Because the “Professional” in “ProMotion” implies, Apple reserves its finest show expertise for these gadgets which have the phrase “Professional” in them — the iPhone Professional, iPad Professional, and MacBook Professional (with one oddball exception).
Expertise marches on, and what’s new ultimately turns into customary. Therefore, it appears inevitable that Apple’s non-Professional gadgets will sometime obtain quicker 120Hz screens. Nonetheless, this doesn’t appear to be a precedence for Apple. Every year, we hear rumors of 120Hz shows coming to Apple’s customary iPhone fashions, and every year, they proceed to be restricted to the iPhone Professional.
If Apple have been going to carry its 120Hz ProMotion show expertise to a non-Professional system, the iPad mini can be a really uncommon place for it to begin. Even amongst iPads, the iPad Air can be a more likely candidate. Nonetheless, with the iPad Air getting into the world of M-series Apple Silicon, the 120Hz ProMotion show is among the few important issues that actually units the iPad Professional fashions aside as gadgets constructed for execs.
If there’s any reality to the notion that an iPad mini could get a 120Hz show, it appears extra cheap that this might be a higher-tier mannequin that might be to the iPad Professional what the present iPad mini is to the iPad Air. We’ve heard on-and-off rumors of an “iPad mini Professional” within the pipeline over the previous few years, which could possibly be the place the studies of a 120Hz display screen on the smaller iPad are coming from. Nonetheless, issues have been quiet on that entrance lately, so both Apple has an enormous shock up its sleeve, or this was merely an thought the corporate was toying with that it determined to not transfer ahead on.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]