Jakarta, Gizmologi – After rumors began to emerge over the past few weeks, Apple has finally launched a refreshed version of its smallest tablet, the iPad mini. Through its official release page, Apple calls it the 'new iPad mini', or iPad mini 7 if you adjust to the number of generations that have been released.
While the Pro version already uses the Apple M4 chip, which hasn't even been embedded in Mac devices, the iPad mini 7 comes with a chipset that is arguably the most minimal to support Apple Intelligence. Yes, it's not the Apple M Series chip like on the iPad Pro or iPad Air, but rather carries the chip from the iPhone 15 Pro Series.
For your information, the presence of the iPad mini 7 is a refreshed version of the one that was launched in 2021. The presence of the new chipset brings many feature improvements. Including connectivity, gaming capabilities, and rear camera quality. All come at the same price as before, and with twice the memory capacity.
Also read: Rumors of the Second Generation Apple Vision Pro, Bringing the M5 Chip with Apple Intelligence
Screen and Front Camera Position Not Changed
As mentioned earlier, the design of the iPad mini 7 is still exactly the same as the 2021 edition, which at that time had just been completely updated. What's been refreshed are the color options, as new choices are given, namely blue and purple—both of which appear in less dominant saturation. Weighing less than 300 grams, it is only 63mm thick, but it is not yet designed to be waterproof.
Another aspect that is still the same is the use of an 83 inch IPS screen which is also still 60Hz. Likewise, the thickness of the screen bezel, as well as the placement of the 12MP front camera, is still placed on the top side when the iPad mini 7 is in portrait position. The exact same dimensions, also followed by the battery capacity which is still the same, 5078 mAh.
So what's new and interesting about the iPad mini 7? Namely, support for the Apple Pencil Pro stylus, which of course fits well when paired with the new functions in iPadOS 18, such as a much more functional calculator. If you don't feel the need, users can also pair it with Apple's affordable stylus, namely the Apple Pencil USB-C. It is more than enough for note taking, sketching, journaling and more.
Not only that, the speed of the USB-C port has also increased, now up to 10Gbps. Including Wi-Fi 6E connectivity support which offers faster speeds. The speaker setup is also still made the same, including the power button on the top side which doubles as Touch ID, aka locking using fingerprints.
A17 Pro Chip Makes iPad mini 7 Camera Even Better
Embedding the A17 Pro chip into the iPad mini 7, makes this smallest Apple tablet able to bring the latest AI capabilities through Apple Intelligence, which is currently still being continuously developed until all of its features can be present next year. Compared to the previous generation, iPad mini 7 performance is up 30% on the CPU, 25% on the GPU, and twice as fast for the Neural Engine.
When used for gaming, the GPU embedded in the iPad mini 7 now supports hardware-based ray-tracking features, so it will be smoother to play a number of AAA game titles. And thanks to the new chip, there's also Smart HDR 4, for photos with a wider dynamic range, and more natural colors from both sides of the camera.
All the benefits of the 2024 iPad mini can be had for the same price, in capacities that have now increased from 64GB to 128GB. For the Wi-Fi version, the price of the iPad mini 7 is USD499 or around IDR 77 million. Meanwhile, the version with 5G network support is sold starting at USD649 (Rp 101 million).
