As much as I have historically loved the Mini, I'm doubtful if I'll upgrade. My current mini still works....except for the battery life being a fraction of what it was and storage being filled (256GB) However I just got a M4 11-inch Pro a few months ago....its hard for me to justify a new mini when its literally a bare bones update. The 8GB of Ram and 512GB option alone are all that interest me. Had they gave the Mini 7 OLED or 120HRz screen, that might sway me over.

I would say more then anything I would dread trying to jump from a Mini 6 to Mini 7. My issue with the Mini or iPads the most is the complete suckitude of the photo system. On my current Mini I would say 100GB is just in images and screencaps. The current design of having everything in a single photo reel with just shortcuts, makes it near impossible to organize mass amounts of photos for removal. And the file naming convention makes it a giant mess when transferred over to a PC. I was gonna move stuff from my mini to Pro, but the effort its going to take makes me just keep putting it off.

Got mine yesterday. There’s not a lot to say since it’s a modest upgrade.

But that means I didn’t need to get a new paper like screen protector—I still had one left (a good thing now that it’s discontinued). Nor, for the Pencil Pro, did I need to buy new soft nibs—I just transferred one from the old Pencil 2. Ditto pencil grip.

I turned on the new automatic handwriting improvement AI thingie and I have to say it’s nice—stuff that would later be unreadable to even me is made legible… if it can figure out what I’m trying to write. My signature is a total mystery to it, for example. 😉

Jelly scroll minimized, as an iFixIt video showed. I have a hard time seeing it now. If I didn’t know it was there I would never see it. The Pencil is much harder to dislodge from the magnetic attachment. Etc. Lots of little things like that.

It’s good to have a mini again! I didn’t know how much I’d miss it until I went over six months without one.

Amazon links for the writing improvement items:

Paper-ish like screen protector

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08ZH77Q6V.

(discontinued but related links might lead to a similar item. $15 vs $40+ for the premium “Paperlike”)

Softer nibs (the ones discovered by @Bishop years ago)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093KQLYDX

Pencil soft grips

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093GGS42W

$400 at Costco now, limit two per member.

https://www.costco.com/apple-ipad-mini%2c-128gb%2c-wi-fi-a17-pro-chip.product.4000285665.html?sh=true&nf=true

The (US Military/Veteran) Exchange has it for $400. No tax, free shipping. Hard to pass up… I never have been able to resist a new mini… so I didn’t try. It’s on its way. 😻

Jason Snell gives me hope:

"Think about it: The iPad mini is great because it runs iOS but is easier to carry and handle due to its small size. Now consider rumors that Apple is working on folding versions of the iPhone. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have an iPhone that folded out to create, in essence, a new sort of iPad mini?

Such a device would cost a fortune, but consider the pro features it might contain. A ProMotion screen with OLED would be a given, but I think you’d also want to include Apple Pencil support. It would undoubtedly have a better camera than the current iPad mini."

www.macworld.com

The current iPad mini fills several interesting niches as a tiny, reading-focused device. However, those who are disappointed can make some strong arguments.

My guess is 2027 at this point...

At least it's a mere spec bump without a price increase. It's actually a very good value compared to the mini 6. Double the RAM and storage for the same price. Along with the A15->A17 Pro upgrade, which aside from AI is overkill. The mini 6 never lacked processing/graphics power for anything one would use it for.

Gen 6

OS: iPadOS 15

CPU: A15 Bionic

Storage: 64GB, (256GB)

RAM: 4GB

Display: 8.3-inch (2266 x 1488 pixels) Liquid Retina

Rear cameras: 12MP wide (f/1.8)

Video: Up to 4K at up to 60 fps

Front camera: 12MP FaceTime HD

Wireless: Wi-Fi 6, optional 5G (Sub-6)

Battery life: 10:29 (tested)

Size: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches

Weight: 0.7 pounds

Price: $499, ($649, $799 cellular)

Gen 7

OS: iPadOS 18

CPU: A17 Pro

Storage: 128GB, 512GB

RAM: 8GB

Display: 8.3-inch (2266 x 1488 pixels) Liquid Retina

Rear cameras: 12MP wide (f/1.8)

Video: Up to 4K at up to 60 fps

Front camera: 12MP FaceTime HD

Wireless: Wi‑Fi 6E, Optional 5G (sub‑6 GHz)

Battery life: 10 hrs (rated)

Size: 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.25 inches

Weight: 0.6 pounds

Price: $499, ($649, $799 cellular)

With the previous version I was obliged to get the 256GB storage option because 64GB wasn't enough. 128GB would have been perfectly fine for me. So it's $150 less for my use case.

OMG, is it even possible to do a more minimalist “upgrade”?

Seems to me like tech has enteres its snooze era.

Watched the Boox product launch on YT, the new Note 4 C. Same thing. Absolutely no reason to search for that credit card (misplaced in 2019 because it hasn’t really been needed since then).

I've read a number of early reviews of the iPad Mini 7 and I have admit it looks more like a placeholder than a standalone device. By that I mean they slapped in a new processor, a little more memory and storage (lowest end Apple device that supports "Apple Intellignece") and called it a day.

Is it a placeholder until Apple releases a folding iPad?

I'd certainly be more interested if it was any of the M chips. I'd be tempted for an M2 cellular version that I could turn into a cell phone with my Bluetooth earbuds even. Cause, while the Fold 6 is cool and all, creases are annoying, and no matte screen protector option is a no-go for me.

I think that ship has sailed. There is zero hope for a return to the stylus in a silo configuration, unfortunately. Having a stylus that’s always there and having the option of buying a larger one for comfort (there are a LOT of EMR options, many are inexpensive) if desired is a thought that does not compute for most people for whatever reason.

This article does a good job explaining why such a minimal update (spoiler: ‘cause most minis are sold to businesses thus price/compatibility is desired).

https://9to5mac.com/2024/10/16/the-new-ipad-mini-7-is-a-surprisingly-small-update-why-is-that/

It’s a reasonable spec bump, but it’s kind of disappointing that this is the first time since its inception that the iPad mini has not been a reduced-size version of the iPad Air in all of its specs. And it sounds like it’s still got “jelly scroll”—same screen as before.