Apple sneaks out mostly unchanged iPad mini with same screen, but it offers a few key upgrades

Apple just revealed a new iPad mini in one of its lowkey launches (by which we mean - let's just bung a press release out there and have done with it).

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Apple's new iPad mini will certainly run games faster (Image Credit: Apple)

This isn't the first time we've seen such an affair, and it won't be the last, no doubt. Of course, as you might guess, this one's being slipped out for a reason, namely because the new iPad mini - powered by an A17 Pro SoC - is more of a spec bump than anything else (which was what the rumor mill was saying all along, to be fair).

You get that new A17 Pro chip, and storage starts at 128GB (twice as much as its predecessor), plus the refreshed compact 8.3-inch tablet also comes with Apple Intelligence support on board, which means that the RAM for the entry-level model is now 8GB.

The design and screen remain the same - the latter is a disappointment for many keen iPad fans, who were hoping for something better (and a cure for the so-called 'jelly scrolling' phenomenon) - but there are also some upgrades on the wireless connectivity front, namely Wi-Fi 6E (if your router supports it) and Bluetooth 5.3.

You'll also get nippier transfers with the new USB-C port (in fact they are twice as fast with the new iPad mini, with up to 10Gbps).

Regarding boosted performance with the new iPad mini, Apple tells us: "With a 6-core CPU - two performance cores and four efficiency cores - A17 Pro delivers a 30% boost in CPU performance [versus the previous A15 chip]. A17 Pro also brings a boost in graphics performance with a 5-core GPU, delivering a 25% jump over the previous generation."

Performance boost

Okay, so to be fair, when combined with 8GB of RAM, this iPad mini should be a pretty nice step forward for performance. But as mentioned, there's quite a lot of disappointment with the overall lack of change here, and especially the fact that Apple has stuck with the same display.

Pre-orders are now open with the tablet going on sale next week, on Wednesday, October 23. The base Wi-Fi model of the new iPad mini with 128GB of storage will pitch up at $499 in the US, and you're looking at $649 for the entry-level Wi-Fi plus cellular variant. The tablet comes in a choice of blue or purple (those are new colors), starlight, or space gray.

You can currently pick up the iPad mini 6 for $380 on Amazon, and deeper discounts may well be inbound soon enough, particularly with Black Friday not far off now. For those who remain unmoved by the upgrades here with the new tablet, waiting for a bargain next month on the last-gen model may be a tempting course of action.