New iPad mini 6
The September 2021 sixth-generation iPad mini sports a bigger display, no Home button, A15 Bionic chip, and USB-C port.
The iPad mini has squared edges, an all-screen design, and a top power button Touch ID fingerprint scanner like the iPad Air. Volume buttons are on top and there’s no Smart Connector on the rear, unlike the iPad Air. Latest iPad mini lacks Touch ID Home button.
The iPad mini has 8.3-inch 2,266 by 1,488 Liquid Retina display. The display has True Tone, P3 broad colour, and 500 nits. A15 Bionic CPU makes the iPhone 13 80% faster than the iPad mini. Initial 5G iPad minis.
Added features include a 12MP Wide rear camera with ̒/1.8 aperture and a 12MP Ultra Wide front-facing camera with Centre Stage for video chats.
The sixth-generation iPad mini magnetically stores, pairs, and charges this second-generation Apple Pencil. The 10-hour battery life matches previous iPads. Space Grey, Pink, Starlight, and Purple iPad minis are available. The 64GB Wi-Fi-only iPad mini costs $499 and the 256GB $649. Cellular models cost $150 extra.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg said in his Power On email today that new iPad models, including the iPad mini, would be available as early as late 2024.
Design
Apple dramatically altered the sixth-generation iPad mini to resemble an iPad Air. All-display iPad minis lack bezels and Touch ID Home buttons.
Reduced bezels make the iPad mini 6’s 8.3-inch display larger than the mini 5’s 7.9-inch. Touch ID is on the top power button because there is no Home button. The iPad mini 6 has flat, rounded display edges like the iPad Air, iPad Pro, and current iPhones. The iPad mini’s top and bottom are slimmer despite its narrow bezel.
The iPad mini measures 7.69 inches (195.4 mm) long, 5.3 inches (134.8 mm) wide, and 0.25 inches (6.3 mm) thick, but the iPad mini 6 eliminates the mini 5 headphone jack. Apple’s smallest tablet, the iPad mini, weights 293 grammes. Cellular versions feature more hardware and weigh a few grammes.
First iPad with top-mounted volume controls. Volume buttons are on top to permit a magnetic side connector for charging the second-generation Apple Pencil.
Landscape cellular iPad minis have a nano-SIM slot on the side, two speakers on top and bottom, and a microphone. One-lens rear camera. Space Grey, Pink, Purple, and Silver-Gold Starlight are iPad mini 6 hues.
Power TouchID
Touching the iPad mini’s top Touch ID power button detects your fingerprint like the mini 5’s Home button. Touch ID unlocks iPads, opens apps, uses Apple Pay, etc. On iPad mini 6, Touch ID works in portrait and landscape. The Touch ID power button activates Siri.
USB-C
Apple replaced the Lightning port with a bottom USB-C port to align the iPad mini with the Air and Pro. USB-C links the iPad mini to 4K and 5K TVs, cameras, and more. The right USB-C cable charges iPhones and Apple Watches at 5Gbps.
Display
The 8.3-inch, 2266×1488, 326-ppi iPad mini 6 display is laminated. Like the iPad Air, the iPad mini 6 offers True Tone and Wide Colour for vibrant colours.
True Tone matches display white balance to ambient lighting for eye comfort. The iPad mini’s display warms to avoid clashing with the room’s yellow lighting. The iPad mini 6 has 500 nits, 1.8% reflectivity, and antireflective coating. Every iPad has oleophobic fingerprint protection.
Apple Pencil
The second-generation Apple Pencil works with iPad mini 6, Air, and Pro. The magnetic strip on the iPad mini 6 charges the Apple Pencil 2.
A15 Bionic Chip
The iPhone 13’s 6-core A15 CPU runs at 2.9GHz on the iPad mini 6. Due to downclocking, iPad mini CPU is 2–8% slower than iPhone 13. Single-core and multi-core Geekbench scores for the iPad mini 6 average 1,595 and 4,540. Average iPhone 13 single-core and multi-core scores are 1,730 and 4,660.
Chip is stronger than iPad mini’s, slower than iPhone 13. One-core and multi-core performance are 40% and 70% quicker on the iPad mini 6 than the mini 5. 4-core and 5-core GPUs for A15 CPU. The iPad mini has the iPhone 13 Pro’s faster 5-core CPU. The iPad mini 6 has 80% quicker graphics.
A Brain Engine
Cinematic Mode and Smart HDR 3 use 15.8 trillion image signal processor operations per second from the A15’s 16-core Neural Engine.
RAM
The new iPad mini features 4GB RAM, up from 3GB. Its RAM matches iPad Air.
Space to Store
Base 64GB and 256GB iPad minis exist. None in 128GB.
Rear Camera
The iPad mini 6 features a 12-megapixel rear camera with /1.8 aperture, 5x digital zoom, 5-element lens, and quad-LED True Tone lighting. Camera is equivalent to iPad Air but not as advanced as iPhone 13 or iPad Pro.
Panorama, Burst Mode, Smart HDR 3, Live Photos, Focus Pixels, broad colour capture, auto photo stabilization, and more are supported. Slo-mo 120 or 240 fps and 4K 24, 25, 30, or 60 fps are supported. The iPad mini can capture 1080p at 30 or 60 fps with time-lapse, cinematic stabilization, and continuous focusing.
Camera facing front, centre stage
A front-facing FaceTime HD camera has /2.4 aperture and 122 degree field of view. FaceTime’s Centre Stage, debuted with the iPad Pro, works with the front camera.
Centre Stage frames FaceTime calls. Wide-angle front-facing camera shows more, while A15 keeps you in focus when moving.
When there are many calls, the camera zooms out for visibility and sound. Centre Stage works with Zoom and other video apps despite being FaceTime-designed.
Battery Life
The iPad mini 6 utilises its 19.3-watt-hour battery. The battery lasts 10 hours on WiFi and 9 hours on cellular for surfing and streaming video, according to Apple.
Connectivity
The iPad mini 6 supports 5G networks, although not the fastest mmWave networks like US 5G iPhones. It only operates on slower but more common Sub-6GHz networks.
The fastest 5G networks are mmWave, but they are short-range and can be blocked by buildings, trees, and other obstacles, thus they are only used in major cities, concerts, airports, and other busy areas.
Urban, suburban, and rural US and international areas use sub-6GHz 5G more. Due to its low availability, mmWave won’t be missed in most 5G networks.
WiFi and Bluetooth
Both Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.11ax WiFi 6 are supported on the iPad mini 6.
Other Features
The iPad mini has a barometer, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, and three-axis gyroscope.
iPad mini 6 Specs
| Spec | Description |
|---|---|
| Chip | A15 Bionic chip |
| Display | 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display with 2266×1538 resolution and 326 ppi |
| Storage | 64GB or 256GB |
| Rear Camera | 12MP wide camera with ƒ/1.8 aperture |
| Front Camera | 12MP Ultra Wide camera with ƒ/2.4 aperture |
| Battery | Up to 10 hours of battery life |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 2×2 MIMO support |
| Cellular | Optional cellular models with support for Gigabit Class LTE |
| Operating System | iPadOS 15 |
| Dimensions | 195.3 x 134.8 x 6.1 mm (7.69 x 5.31 x 0.24 inches) |
| Weight | 293 grams (Wi-Fi) or 299 grams (Cellular) (10.33 ounces (Wi-Fi) or 10.57 ounces (Cellular)) |
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