The newly-announced iPad mini 7 seems to be stuck with 20W charging like the previous model, making the list of upgrades even slimmer.
Under normal circumstances we wouldn't know this until actually reviewing the device. But 91mobiles found an online certification entry from CCC, the Chinese regulator of electronic products for the iPad mini 7. And the info in this listing tells us the tablet charges at a maximum voltage/amperage of 9V/2.22A, giving us the 20W cap.
That's despite the listing also mentioning an Apple-made 45W adapter, which just seems to have been bundled in with this round of products all sourced from one specific factory without a specific link to the new iPad mini.
As we mentioned, 20W is the same charging speed offered by the iPad mini 6 that this new pint-size iPad is due to replace. And assuming the battery itself is unchanged too, that likely means the new iPad mini will fill to only around 36% after half an hour plugged in, as we saw in our iPad mini 6 lab testing.
An upgrade all iPads need
Larger Android tablets like the OnePlus Pad 2 or Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra offer way higher speeds, boasting 67W and 45W charging respectively. Granted, the iPad mini fills a different niche with its uniquely small size, but it shows how little Apple focuses on charging speeds for its tablets. Even the iPad Pro only supports up to around 30W charging.
Seeing this low charging speed for the iPad mini 7 makes me question whether Apple's apparent assumption that iPad buyers aren't interested in rapid charging actually fits with typical charging patterns for tablet users. Anecdotally, the vast majority of smartphone owners will charge their phones overnight no matter the battery percentage, but tablets are a different case. In my own experience and those of people I know, tablets generally only get charged when they're on the verge of death. So a speedy charge on an iPad would be beneficial here in a way they wouldn't be on an iPhone.
The iPad mini 7's main upgrades are its support for Apple Intelligence and the Apple Pencil Pro, plus increased performance from its new chip, even if it's a less powerful version than the one found in the iPhone 15 Pro. A higher charging speed might have been a nice bonus on top of these, but Apple's done just about enough to bring its smallest iPad up to date with these changes.
For anyone wanting to buy the new iPad mini, it is up for pre-order now, and will go on open sale from October 23rd.
