iPad mini 7 tipped for Apple event — what I want to see
Neglect the iPhone 15, new AirPods Professional with USB-C and even the Apple Watch Extremely 2 — there’s just one system I’m actually enthusiastic about Apple unveiling subsequent week: the iPad mini 7. I know, I know, it’s not the grandest nor essentially the most awe-inspiring product in Apple’s portfolio, however it’s my favourite and I’m all the time keen to see what new additions have been made to the newborn member of the iPad household.
Sadly it’s honest to say rumors across the new iPad mini have left me uninspired up to now. We might get a quicker chip (probably the A16 Bionic) and a few new colours however a redesign appears extremely unlikely. Which is an actual disgrace — as a result of there’s a lot potential right here based mostly on what’s gone earlier than.
I’m seeing a minimum of one new iPad coming. Most likely mini 7. Will reserved that for the following publish.August 1, 2023
I can perceive the reasoning of conserving the iPad mini’s diminutive 8.3-inch show as a Liquid Retina LCD panel and never upgrading it to OLED just like the iPhone 14 Professional. For starters, that might push the fee up past the $449 / £479 / AU$749 beginning worth we at the moment have in place. And secondly, whereas the iPad mini is superior, it’s not my go-to system when I want to sit back with among the finest Netflix films or attempt a spot of gaming. No, for me the iPad mini is a bit of backpack-friendly productiveness workhorse.
For me, the iPad mini is a bit of backpack-friendly productiveness workhorse.
Thanks to the addition of the Apple Pencil it’s change into a digital notepad and when paired with among the finest wi-fi keyboards, it may be a super-compact pseudo laptop computer. It’s the proper dimension for one-handed doc studying and annotating and I’ve additionally used it as a standalone video conferencing device sitting other than my laptop computer.
That being the case, there are many issues I want to see from the iPad mini 7 that might construct on these use instances. Chief amongst them being the addition of a Good Connector so I may give Apple much more of my hard-earned money shopping for a first-party iPad mini Magic Keyboard. I’ve gone into extra element about that on this article however suffice to say, it’s high of my want checklist for fortunate quantity 7.
Whereas an Apple-made keyboard takes the highest spot, there’s a number of extra upgrades that I assume ought to be added to the following mini iPad, even when they do find yourself pushing the value up.
1. Extra base-level storage
Transport any product in 2023 or 2024 with 64GB as the bottom stage storage simply isn’t acceptable. Should you’re going to use the iPad mini for housing paperwork, as opposed to simply streaming content material, you’re going to want a minimum of 128GB to begin with – and I’d want to see this with out Apple jacking up the entry worth level.
I’d additionally like to see 512GB and 1TB fashions on supply, however I recognize that gained’t be for everybody.
2. Sooner refresh fee
It is a no-brainer. Though I’d forgive Apple foregoing an OLED panel, conserving the iPad mini’s show locked at 60Hz is simply unfair on our eyeballs. Even when it doesn’t make all of it the best way up to the 120Hz ProMotion show (which analyst Ross Young believes can be saved to the Professional fashions) a bump up to 90Hz could be magnanimous.
A 90Hz refresh fee is seen on the greatest low cost telephones now with out a lot fuss, so including it to Apple’s subsequent iPad wouldn’t be a lot of a stretch. It could make scanning paperwork equivalent to spreadsheets or flicking by means of pages on a Kindle e book a way more nice expertise.
3. An M-Sequence chip
Up high, I advised the iPad mini 7 may very well be bestowed with the identical A16 Bionic chip that powers the iPhone 14 Professional. And whereas that might be nice, what I’d actually like to see is a swap to Apple’s M-Sequence chips. Such a lift would give it unrivalled energy in a conveyable system and put it on a par with Apple’s top-tier tablets.
If it obtained the Apple M2 chip, able to up to 15.8 trillion operations per second thanks to a 16-core Neural Engine, the iPad mini 7 would supply Lamborghini efficiency in a the physique of a Chevvy Bolt. That’s cool.
4. Battery bump
There’s been no rumors to counsel the iPad mini 7 can be supplied with a bigger energy pack so Apple will certainly be trying to software program efficiencies to make it final a bit of longer. On a tool that’s meant to be transportable, battery life is paramount. The present iPad mini 6 isn’t any slouch; it managed 10 hours and 56 minutes in our battery take a look at that concerned net shopping over Wi-Fi with the display set at 150 nits. However in the event you’re an influence person trying to the iPad mini for productiveness, you’ll little question nix it in much less time than that.
Larger batteries can and do add weight in addition to taking over area — not one thing simply achieved with the mini’s small footprint. However it’s my wish-list and I’ll add longer battery life if I want to.
5. MagSafe
The iPad mini 6 has no wi-fi charging capabilities in any respect. Which is annoying in the event you want to for instance, pair it with a stand to double it up as a sensible residence show. Given the Pixel Pill arrived with the singular promise of being a sensible residence hub and a pill in a single — including MagSafe to the iPad mini 7 may very well be a game-changer. Particularly if the Standby Mode function in iOS 17 is introduced over to iPadOS.
Think about having the ability to magnetically snap the 8-3-inch pill to a magnetic stand and have it immediately change into a management panel for your sensible residence. There are at the moment third-party instances for the iPad mini 6 that supply a wi-fi charging workaround (just like the Pitaka iPad Mini 6 case, $79 from Amazon) however I’d love to see Apple convey this in-house.
Expectations vs actuality
Simply as there are issues I want to see from the following iPad mini, there’s stuff I don’t actually care about. The cameras, for one. I don’t use my iPad mini for taking photos or a lot AR work, so I’m completely satisfied in the event that they don’t get touched. I’m additionally not fussed whether or not Apple decides to add a brand new shade to the combo. And at last, if Apple decides to enhance on the 20W energy adapter that comes with the present iPad mini 6 then nice — however I gained’t lose sleep over it.
Now I’ve been protecting Apple launches lengthy sufficient to know that subsequent week’s Wonderlust event might give me one or two of the objects on this checklist if I’m fortunate. The whole lot factors to this 12 months’s product being an iterative refresh. However that doesn’t cease me from being an enormous iPad mini fanboy and I’ll most likely bounce up to quantity 7 even when it doesn’t fulfill all my transportable powerhouse wishes.
We’ll be protecting the upcoming Apple event as-it-happens right here on Tom’s Information and you’ll examine all the pieces else we’re anticipating to see proper right here.
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