With the Apple iPad mini 7 unveiled and due out just before Halloween, the buying decision between iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6 is trickier than ever.
That's because the potential savings on buying the old model are high heading into the holiday season, as we're already seeing early Black Friday deals on Apple gear that make an iPad mini an enticing gift idea.
But while the new iPad mini 7 looks awfully promising, the potential improvements over the still excellent iPad mini 6 (2021) are smaller than you might expect, and a lot of the value in upgrading depends on how you feel about Apple Intelligence.
With that in mind, here's everything you need to know about choosing between the Apple iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6.
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iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6: Price and availability
The new iPad mini 7 can be ordered from Apple or supporting retailers at a starting price of $499.
That's the same price it cost to buy yourself an entry-level model of the old iPad mini 6, but it only came with 64GB of storage. You didn't even get the whole amount, either—Apple's iPadOS 18 operating system eats up a chunk of space.
That's why it's a big deal that the entry-level iPad mini 7 comes with 128GB of storage space minimum. Not only are you getting double the storage for the same $499 starting price, you get two new color options: Blue and Purple iPad mini 7 models are now available alongside the traditional Starlight and Space Grey.
iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6: Specs
iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6: Biggest changes
A17 Pro performance boost
The big upgrade Apple is giving the iPad mini 7 in 2024 is under the hood, and it's called the A17 Pro.
This is the same slice of Apple silicon that powers the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and that's a phone that runs games like Assassin's Creed Mirage well.
A big reason why is that there are six cores on the A17 Pro's GPU, a small but significant upgrade over the 5 on the A16.
Apple claims the GPU on the 17 Pro is up to 20% faster than on prior models, and that it unlocks "new experiences" thanks to hardware-accelerated ray tracing support and custom shader architecture.
Put simply, the best iPad games that are optimized for the A17 Pro will run way better on the new iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6.
Apple Intelligence
A big part of the A17 Pro's value is the fact that it will support Apple Intelligence features when they come online in iPadOS 18, while the older A15 Bionic in the iPad mini 6 will not.
There are all sorts of small features that are enabled on devices that support Apple Intelligence, including Writing Tools for generating or editing text and Photos upgrades that let you use AI to edit or find images.
More features are likely to come in the future, including upgrades to Siri that make the digital assistant more reliable and more capable. But with no Apple Intelligence release date in sight there's no telling how useful these features will be on an iPad mini 7 by the time you read this, or whether having them is worth saving money by buying a refurbished iPad mini 6.
Apple Pencil Pro support
Finally, the last big difference between the iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6 is the fact that the old model doesn't support the new Apple Pencil Pro ($129).
The Pencil Pro launched earlier this year as a more premium version of the basic Apple Pencil that offers haptic feedback and support for the new squeeze and barrel roll gestures.
Apps that support these features will be able to respond to you when you squeeze the stylus or rotate it, which can make interacting with editing tools feel easier or more natural.
So while you can use the older USB-C Apple Pencil with either the iPad mini 7 or the mini 6, only the newer model will support the Apple Pencil Pro.
iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6: Outlook
As you can see, the difference between the iPad mini 7 vs iPad mini 6 is laudable but minimal on the outside. The new color schemes are great to see, as is the elimination of the distressingly small 64GB storage option from the iPad mini line. It's also worth noting that the new iPad mini 7 has slightly faster Wi-Fi 6E connectivity.
But iPad mini 6 owners need not run out to upgrade unless you absolutely have to check out Apple Intelligence as soon as it's available. And what I've seen of it so far on early versions of iPadOS and macOS Sequoia suggest there's no rush — Apple is taking a slow and steady approach to its AI rollout.
