The next ipad mini
Here are the major features and changes that have been rumoured for the next ipad mini.
It’s been over two years since the ipad mini had its last update, so the rumours of a new version are heating up. We look at the most credible reports of the upcoming model.
DESIGN AND DISPLAY
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported in June that the next ipad mini will have thinner bezels. Analyst Ming-chi Kuo also talked about the thinner bezels, which allows the ipad mini to increase its screen size from 7.9 inches to 8.4 inches. However, recent rumours suggest that Apple will completely redesign the ipad mini with a look that’s closer to the ipad Air.
Apple has been transitioning the ipad line to reflect the design of the iphone 12, with its flat edges. The mini is next to undergo the ‘flat’ change according to several reports, including a comprehensive rundown from
Jon Prosser of Front Page Tech and confirmation from Mark Gurman, who says the mini is due for its “biggest redesign in (its) nine-year history”.
Prosser says the new model will be similar in size to the existing ipad mini, with a Liquid Retina display (rounded corners) and an ‘edge-to-edge’ design. He adds that the ipad mini will be available in gold, silver and black (though we think he meant Space Grey.) The current Space Grey ipad mini has a black bezel, while the gold and silver models have white bezels, but Apple switched to all-black bezels with the ipad Air regardless of colour.
Kuo previously reported that Apple has planned to update the ipad mini with a mini-led screen, but that has likely been pushed back to the next upgrade cycle. The current ipad mini uses an IPS LCD display like other ipads except for the new 12.9in ipad Pro.
TOUCH ID POWER BUTTON
Several reports have stated that the home button is going away in the next ipad mini. It will still have Touch ID, but the sensor will be built into the power button, an implementation that was introduced with the fourth-generation ipad Air. In our review, we called it “a good solution that works very well”.
Jon Prosser believes that Apple will replace the Lightning port on the next ipad mini with USB-C. He calls this an “interesting move”, which implies that maybe this rumour isn’t as solid as the others. The entry-level
ipad and ipad mini are the only two ipad models that still have a Lightning port, while the ipad Pro and ipad Air use USB-C.
The current ipad mini already supports the Apple Pencil, but Prosser reports Apple may be designing a smaller version that would work better with the ipad mini’s form factor. We’ve heard rumblings that Apple is working on a 3rd-gen Apple Pencil, but we assumed it would be for the ipad Pro.
A14 PROCESSOR
Jon Prosser says that Apple will use an ‘A14’ processor in the next ipad mini. The ipad Air and iphone 12 use an A14 Bionic processor with a neural engine, which is likely the model Prosser is referring to. However, it’s possible that Apple is using a system on a chip that’s an incremental stepdown, as the A14 labelling implies, which would create some distance between it and the ipad Air. Apple has made different versions of chips before, such as the A12Z in the previous ipad Air and the M1 with a 7-core GPU.
RELEASE DATE AND PRICE
Several reports have stated that the next ipad mini will be available later this year, most recently Mark Gurman from Bloomberg who said the new mini “should be a go” for an autumn launch. Prices have not been reported, but we assume that they’ll be the same as or very close to the price of the current ipad mini, which starts at £399 for 64GB of storage.