Apple’s smallest tablet has just got what the company says is its “biggest upgrade ever”. But is the wide range of new changes – from a whole new display technology to a new thinner and lighter design – enough to make up for a big price hike? We’ve been putting the latest version to the test.
The iPad Mini has always had a slightly strange place in Apple’s line-up. It’s more neglected than Apple’s other tablets, only tending to be updated every three years or so. And it has never been quite clear who exactly it is for, sitting awkwardly and sometimes confusingly between the bigger versions of the iPhone and the full-sized iPad.
But it remains beloved by at least some of Apple’s users, especially those who use it in specific situations: the company said in its latest update that it is used by “small business owners, doctors, field service workers, gamers, and more”. And it seems to still be beloved by Apple, too, which has given the latest version a big revamp that adds that new display and design, as well as better performance and water and dust resistance.
Are all of those changes enough to keep the iPad Mini relevant, however? And do they help answer the question that has dogged the little iPad since it was first released: who exactly is this for? We’ve been trying out the new upgrades to try and find the answer.
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iPad Mini, 8th-generation
Display: 8.5in OLED with HDR
CPU: Apple A20 Pro
Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Size: 7.69in x 5.22in x 0.21in
Why we love it
- Stunning display
- Thinner, lighter and more portable than ever
- Added performance and resilience make it suitable for a variety of tasks
Take note
- Limited refresh rate on display
- Price
iPad Mini, 8th-generation: Design
Apple’s claims of this being the biggest update its smaller tablet has ever received are obvious even before you switch it on. The device is thinner and lighter, which makes it feel like picking up a wodge of envelopes.
It is not quite as thin as the astonishingly slim iPad Pro, or even the unfolded iPhone Duo, which means that it doesn’t quite give the slightly unbelievable feeling of those devices. But it does mean that you can carry it around, hold it one hand, and even put it into a large pocket, without a thought.
The other notable aspect about the design is that Apple has sealed it up almost entirely: there are no more visible speakers, and barely a hole in sight. (That does have an effect on the sound, which we’ll get to later.) It makes for a cleaner design – but also a more robust one, allowing it to protect against water and dust, so that you can happily use it by the pool, for example.
iPad Mini, 8th-generation: Display
Then you turn it on, and the other big upgrade is dazzlingly clear: the iPad Mini now has a stunning OLED display, which can also be bigger because of the reduction of the size in the bezels around the screen. The new display technology allows for a whole host of changes that are immediately obvious.
Blacks are much blacker, for instance, thanks to the OLED, and every other colour is more vivid and richer. It can also go much brighter – up to twice as much as the previous iPad Mini – meaning that HDR content is astonishingly bright. And it can also go much dimmer, too, which means among other things that it can be better used for reading in the dark.
But there’s a catch. That display is limited to 60Hz, a relatively slow refresh rate, which means that it doesn’t have the “ProMotion” branding of Apple’s other recent displays. And while that might all sound a little technical, it does matter.
Apple uses its ProMotion branding for all of its displays that can go up to 120Hz, which includes iPhone Pro models for the last five years and the most recent base iPhone 17, as well as the iPad Pro and some MacBooks. In practice it means that the screen can update more quickly, allowing it to look so smooth that you can't actually see it updating at all.
You are unlikely to notice it most of the time, since it makes little difference during daily use such as watching videos or reading. And you might be unlikely to notice it at all, if you haven’t been spoilt by the silky, buttery smoothness of Apple’s latest devices.
But you will probably notice it some of the time, especially when navigating through menus, which can appear to judder slightly as you move around the iPad. It is far from disastrous, but it does make everything feel just ever so slightly less seamless, and it actually feels a little more obvious given that everything else about that display is so beautifully crisp, clear and bright.
iPad Mini, 8th-generation: Performance
The other big upgrade to the iPad Mini is inside: the A20 Pro chip, first unveiled with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max and iPhone Duo in September. It is blisteringly fast – so fast, indeed, that it might not matter at all.
Apple says that the new iPad Mini is 2.7 times faster than the previous one for GPU tasks, and 1.6 times faster for the CPU; those numbers were proven out in our own testing, including using benchmark tools that run the system through a variety of representative tasks. Taken together, and given the ways that people use an iPad Mini, they really mean that you won’t have to think much about performance at all, since it is more than capable at everything from detailed photo editing to playing games. It is also entirely capable at even intensive tasks – it is up to 4.5 times faster at AI than the previous model, for instance – just in case you do want to really push it.
There are some other changes to how the iPad Mini works, too. One, mentioned above, is the fact that the speakers have been moved from the sides and into the screen, which Apple calls an “Acoustic Display”.
In use, this is fine: the sound is perfectly passable, though it can struggle when it gets loud, and you’re probably going to want to wear earbuds for anything where the audio particularly matters. Before trying the device, I had been concerned that the display might palpably shake while you use it, but while you can feel a little bit of vibration it is not enough to be particularly noticeable.
Apple has upgraded other parts of the device, too. The cameras have been moved, in the case of the front-facing one, so that it sits along the long edge for better use in landscape mode, and improved though they are still unlikely to be as good as the one in your phone. It also has Apple’s adaptive flash, which sends out light at the right colour to ensure that it does not turn everything a bright white – but the fact that Apple has emphasised the difference that will make to document scanning perhaps points to the way that most people will actually end up using it.
iPad Mini, 8th-generation: Price
There’s only one other catch about the new iPad Mini: it is expensive. It starts at £699 – and can go all the way up to £1,249 if you opt for the storage, chip, matte display and cellular connectivity upgrades – up about 40 per cent on the £499 starting price when the 2024 model was released.
The price increase makes a lot of sense. Not only is the new version stacked with all kinds of technology that means that it now rivals the iPad Pro, Apple has been forced to push up the price of almost all of its devices because of the AI-fuelled RAM crisis that has pushed up the cost of computer chips across the industry.
But the more pressing question is whether the iPad Mini makes sense at this price. For a long time, the iPad Mini could be justified as a kind of nice extra device – for a relatively cheap way of getting an Apple product, or for specific uses such as reading on holiday or using them in a business – but the price hike means that it needs to be able to stand on its own.
It is so beautifully made and astonishingly fast that the answer to that question might still be yes. But it may now be a more hesitant yes, thanks to the price hike.
Key specifications
Buy now £699, Argos.co.uk
Should you buy the iPad Mini?
It really depends on who you are, perhaps more than any other Apple product. And that has only become a more pressing question with the latest iPad Mini.
It represents an undeniably big upgrade. Between the new display, design, performance and other features, it is a tiny powerhouse, ready to take on almost any task and to be used in a variety of contexts.
But not a huge variety of contexts. In the places that the iPad Mini succeeds – used as a way of paying in shops, strapped to the leg of a pilot, as a versatile device to take by the pool, and more – it will only continue to succeed even more after its latest upgrade. But that list is not that long, and it is hard to think of a huge range of situations in which one of the larger iPhones or a full-sized iPad wouldn’t work just as well.
Even in those contexts, the price still represents something of an issue. At £500, it was an expensive if justifiable way of getting Apple’s advanced and dependable tech into people’s hands; at £700, it’s a little harder to justify, especially against the bigger if slightly less advanced iPad Air for just £50 more.
But, with all those caveats in mind, the iPad Mini remains a fantastic device. It is without a doubt the best small tablet you can buy, and justifies its slightly unusual place in Apple’s line-up. If the iPad Mini appeals to you – and by now, if you didn’t already, you probably know whether you are the kind of person who could use it – then it is a great buy.
How I tested the iPad Mini
I’ve been using the new iPad Mini since shortly after it was announced, and before it was released to the public. I have put it through many of the kinds of use it will be put to in the real world (though sadly I am yet to strap it to my leg and pilot a plane, which is one of the oft-touted use cases). That meant using it for both work and leisure, and both making and consuming content, as well as more daily tasks such as messaging and emails. I made sure to note its performance, battery life and general ease-of-use as I did.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
The Independent’s dedicated shopping section, IndyBest is committed to providing unbiased reviews and expert advice. Our team of editors and writers have years of experience in testing products, particularly new Apple releases like the iPhone Duo and MacBook Neo, and put them through rigorous trials in real-world conditions.
Andrew Griffin has been technology editor at The Independent for more than a decade, reviewing everything from the latest iPhones to new headphones.
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