The iPad Mini 7 gives our favorite small tablet even better performance, improved stylus support and Apple Intelligence smarts, though it’s otherwise the same slate that launched back in 2021.

I should confess right up front that I have always loved the iPad Mini. I’ve owned several; I’ve bought them as gifts for multiple family members. I want a tablet I can use to read in bed, throw into my overstuffed carry-on bag, or prop up on the toaster to help me cook dinner. The Mini is the one.

The iPad mini 7th-gen is built for Apple Intelligence, but it’s still a better realization of Apple’s tablets for most users.

The variety in iPad sizes is impressive. You can get everything from a 13-inch giant iPad Pro down to an 8.3-inch iPad mini. Most people probably live in the middle with the popular 10.9-inch iPad Air or the new 11-inch Air, but that little one with the 8.3-inch Liquid Retina Display has its adherents.

Apple today introduced the new iPad mini, supercharged by the A17 Pro chip and Apple Intelligence, the easy-to-use personal intelligence system that understands personal context to deliver intelligence that is helpful and relevant while protecting user privacy.

Apple’s A17 Pro is key to the essence of this tablet’s upgrade. To make that clear, Apple is calling it the iPad mini with A17 Pro, not iPad mini seventh-generation. The chip update means that it’s capable of running Apple’s take on AI, called Apple Intelligence, which arrives soon.

The last-gen iPad mini 6 is back on sale at Amazon, returning to its all-time best price of $349.99 as the iPad mini 7 hits store shelves tomorrow.

The price for the Apple iPad mini 7 is the same as before, starting at $499 for the Wi-Fi version with 128GB of RAM, and $649 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular variant.

The iPad mini (2024) is set to launch this week. The first reviews for the newest iPad are being published. There's a lot of good — and some bad.