The iPad mini 6 won the Apple Event — here's why

The iPad mini 6 won the Apple Effect — here'southward why

(Image credit: Apple)

The cute just well-specced iPad mini half-dozen probably wasn't meant to be the headline act at Apple'due south California Dreaming event on Tuesday. However with so much of Apple's smallest tablet having being upgraded or swapped out, it'southward arguably the nearly interesting of all the products the company appear.

I often overlooked the iPad mini in the past. The iPad mini (2019) didn't feature on my shortlist at all when looking for a new personal tablet, and it'due south the only iPad non to appear on Tom's Guide's best tablets list. But the arrival of the new iPad mini seems gear up to change everything.

iPad mini 6 release engagement, specs, design, colors and news
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Showtime off, the iPad mini's new design brings information technology right upward to appointment. It now looks like Apple'southward iPad Air and iPad Pro, ditching the ugly bezels that really should have disappeared from the new base iPad too. As a result the brandish'southward become larger also, increasing to 8.3 inches from 7.nine inches on the 2019 iPad mini. That's a huge quality of life change straight off, giving users more infinite in about the same size frame.

Yous tin enjoy that modernistic-looking display with a modernistic stylus too, equally the mini now also supports the 2d-generation Apple Pencil, a big comeback over the original. It's more than compact and can be stored and charged past a magnetic connector on the border of the tablet. It'south far more than applied than the first-gen Pencil that doesn't accept a convenient storage feature and needs charging via the regular iPad's own Lightning connector.

At that place will be a big jump in computing power as well, thanks to the new A15 Bionic chipset within the iPad mini. The final model used an A12 Bionic scrap, which was already a year old when it appeared in that version. This iPad is getting the A15 chip at the same time it debuts in the iPhone 13, so it'due south every bit powerful an iPad as you can go without ownership the M1-powered iPad Pro.

Another iPad Pro feature stolen by the iPad mini vi (and iPad 9) is Heart Stage for the front camera. It lets the iPad control the zoom level of your video feed when on a call or recording yourself, letting it follow you around the space and adjusting when people enter or exit the frame. From what I saw of this feature on the iPad Pro, it's very effective, so it's skillful to encounter it coil out onto more models.

While it's non the virtually exciting change, the swapping-in of a USB-C port volition prove very useful. It'll brand it much easier to accuse the iPad mini with any cable you lot happen to accept lying effectually, plus as Apple showed in its presentation, information technology lets the mini work with lots of new accessories that it previously didn't accept the choice to.

About the only matter that'southward missing is a keyboard folio case, like the other iPads have, although this might exist due to the mini existence too minor to take functional and ergonomic keys. It would also exist kind of Apple if information technology had offered a 128GB storage model, rather than letting users struggle to option between a pathetic 64GB base version or the 256GB version that adds some other $150 to the price-tag. It'south frustrating, simply we'll just have to swallow information technology as room for improvement for hereafter generations.

I am excited almost the changes to the iPhone xiii line-up, particularly what Apple tree's been upward to with the iPhone 13 cameras and the new 120Hz ProMotion brandish on the Pro models. The Apple Watch 7, although only seeing moderate changes from last yr, looks attractive too. The less said about the new basic iPad the ameliorate, even if it's been given some worthwhile upgrades. Even with all of this in mind, I'thou still convinced the iPad mini was the star of the show.

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Richard is a Tom's Guide staff writer based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, gaming, audio and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he'southward also written for WIRED U.M., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's probable thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty java.