The 6th-generation iPad mini.
Andrew Cunningham
The new iPad mini compared to 2020’s iPad Air 4.
Andrew Cunningham
Both tablets come in a few different pastel finishes; here’s the purple mini compared to the Sky Blue iPad Air.
Andrew Cunningham
The new mini looks almost exactly identical to the iPad Air, from the flat edges and back to the rounded slim-bezeled screen.
Andrew Cunningham
The iPad mini in its $59 “English Lavender” Smart Folio case with a $129 Apple Pencil 2 stuck to the top.
Andrew Cunningham
The iPad mini’s 12MP rear camera is identical to the one in the iPad Air 4, though the mini’s will benefit somewhat from the updated ISP in the Apple A15.
Andrew Cunningham
Both tablets use a USB-C port for charging and accessories.
Andrew Cunningham
The new iPad mini—whether you want to call it the 2021 iPad mini, iPad mini 6, or iPad mini (6th generation)—is easily the best one Apple has ever made. That’s true whether you’re comparing this iPad mini to the last one, or if you’re comparing it to the other iPads Apple sells.
The mini almost always seems to get the short end of the stick on the rare occasions when it’s updated at all. It has been saddled with older, slower processors or inferior screens or dated designs. This iPad mini, on the other hand, has a fully modern design and a cutting-edge Apple A15 chip in it. It’s a fantastic tablet—if you’re the kind of person who is already ride-or-die for the iPad mini.
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That’s a big if, because as great as the mini is, its position in Apple’s lineup remains awkward. The $329 iPad (also just updated with a new chip and other tweaks) is a great all-around tablet for kids and price-conscious adults. And the $599 iPad Air 4 is just barely more expensive than the mini and has a bigger screen that is a better fit for the computer-y multitasking features Apple keeps adding to iPadOS.
For now, we’ll focus on reviewing the mini on its own merits for the people who already know they want one. Just know that none of the new model’s upgrades expand its appeal if you’re already happy with another iPad or a big-screened iPhone.
Look and feel
Specs at a glance: 2021 Apple iPad mini (6th-generation)
Screen
2266×1488 8.3-inch (326PPI) touchscreen with True Tone
OS
iPadOS 15
CPU
Apple A15
RAM
4GB
GPU
Apple A15
Storage
64GB or 256GB
Networking
802.11ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 (5G/LTE optional add-on)
Ports
USB-C
Camera
12MP rear camera, 12MP wide-angle front camera
Size
7.69×5.3×0.25 inches (195.4×134.8×6.3mm)
Weight
0.65 pounds (293g) for Wi-Fi model; 0.66 pounds (297g) for cellular
Battery
19.3 Wh
Starting price
$499 (Wi-Fi only)
Other perks
Apple Pencil 2 support
The new iPad mini is more accurately an iPad Air mini—nearly everything about its design is lifted directly from the 4th-generation iPad Air that Apple released in 2020.
That iPad Air took the basic design and physical dimensions of the 11-inch iPad Pro and trimmed some features to make it cheaper. The Air has a power button-mounted TouchID fingerprint sensor rather than FaceID, a 60 Hz Retina display without ProMotion support, an A-series Apple chip rather than a higher-performance M-series chip, and a basic rear camera without any additional lenses or LIDAR sensors.
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The iPad mini is exactly that, just smaller.
Like the redesigned iPad Air, the new mini uses a slimmer display bezel all the way around the screen, a USB-C port (but no headphone jack), and flat edges that allow the second-generation Apple Pencil to attach, pair, and charge. Its round-cornered 8.3-inch screen is a shade narrower than the previous mini’s 7.9-inch screen, but its height increases enough to make the screen larger on the diagonal. Despite this, removing the Home button and reducing the size of the display bezel makes the new mini around a quarter-inch shorter than the old one while maintaining roughly the same width, depth, and weight.
Also like the Air, the new iPad mini comes in a few subtle color options aside from the typical space gray. Our review unit is the purple model, but pink and “Starlight” finishes are also available (Starlight is somewhere in between the silver and gold finishes on older iPads).
The Apple Pencil 2 is nearly as long as the iPad mini itself.
Andrew Cunningham
Because of that, Apple relocated the volume buttons to the top of the tablet, instead of their customary place on the right edge.
Andrew Cunningham
There are really only two major differences between the iPad Air 4 and the new iPad mini, aside from size—one is the volume buttons, which have been shifted from the right edge of the tablet to the top-left, the same side of the iPad that the power button is on. This frees up space on the tablet’s right side for the second-generation Apple Pencil to stick, since the Pencil is nearly as long as the tablet and there wouldn’t be enough room for it otherwise.
The second difference, and one that was also true of the previous iPad mini, is the continued absence of a Smart Connector on the back or the edge of the tablet. There’s nothing stopping you from pairing a Bluetooth keyboard or keyboard case with the iPad mini and enjoying the same keyboard and trackpad support that other iPads have. But this laptop replacement-y use case just isn’t a good fit for the mini’s small screen. The absence of a Smart Connector is Apple’s subtle hint that you should get one of the larger iPads if you want to do that kind of thing.
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Camera and speakers
The new iPad mini has upgraded cameras and redesigned speakers. The camera system is a combination of parts from the iPad Air 4 and the latest iPad Pros. From the Air 4, the new mini inherits a single-lens 12MP rear camera with an LED flash—the upgraded image signal processor in the Apple A15 chip may improve its photos marginally compared to the ones that the iPad Air takes, but photos from each camera look similar overall. It is, however, an appreciable improvement over the 8MP rear camera in the 5th-generation iPad mini.
The front camera, on the other hand, uses a 12MP sensor and wide-angle lens like the one in the 2021 iPad Pro or the new $329 iPad. In addition to being able to capture more of your surroundings than before, the wide-angle lens enables the “Center Stage” feature for FaceTime and other video-calling apps that support it. Center Stage enables a sort of pan-and-scan effect that will track you as you move around within the camera’s field of view, which is handy if you’re moving around a desk or counter or pacing back and forth in a room. It works as well in the iPad mini as it does in the iPad Pro or the 9th-gen iPad.
The new mini also inherits the four-speaker layout from newer iPad Airs and Pros, with a pair of grilles on the top and bottom of the tablet (or the left and right sides, in landscape mode—the stereo panning shifts based on the way the tablet is oriented). The mini’s speakers sound good for a device this size, though they’re not as good with bass or at filling a room with space as an iPad Pro or even a decent Bluetooth speaker. They’re great for FaceTime and YouTube, and they’re decent for dialogue-heavy movies and TV. Sound gets more muddled when listening to music or busy, noisy action sequences. So the speakers are great for a tablet this size; there’s just a limit to what speakers this small can do.
