I have been waiting for what seems like forever for the iPad mini to get a refresh and at long last, it has happened. That said, I’m admittedly underwhelmed by this refresh. While the new iPad mini will be able to use the shiny new Apple Intelligence that everyone is talking about – even though it hasn’t been released yet – the other changes in this refreshed model are pretty minor. I was hoping they would use one of the newer M-series Apple Silicon processors in the mini, just as they’re using in the current air and pro models. Unfortunately, they’re using the A17 Pro chip which, while not bad by any means, is the same chip that Apple used last year in its iPhone 15 Pro models. Couldn’t they at least use the chip that they’re using in this year’s iPhone 16 Pro models? To me, it almost feels like someone at Apple found a drawer with leftover chips and thought, “Gosh, what are we gonna do with all these leftover chips from last year? Let’s give the Mini a refresh and then update it for real once we run out.” I’m sure the situation is far more complicated than this, but it’s hard to justify upgrading knowing that I would be buying last year’s technology and still paying a premium price for it. All that said, I love my current mini, I love the form-factor, I love how portable it is, I like that I can have my apps organized in a way that helps me be productive in ways I can’t be on my phone. I would even go so far to say that of all the Apple mobile devices I’ve owned, the iPad mini, 6TH generation, has been one of my favorites.

There are a number of articles that do a great job of detailing what’s new with Apple’s newest generation iPad mini. For anyone curious to learn more, I highly recommend this fantastic post by Jason Snell.

So, will I be upgrading to Apple’s shiny new iPad mini? I’m still not sure. On the one hand, I like the idea of being able to use Apple Intelligence on the mini since that’s where I already do a lot of work, but on the other, I hate the idea of buying last year’s tech as if it were truly new. I’m definitely glad Apple is refreshing the iPad mini line, but after three years, I was really hoping to see a bit more.