Apple on Monday announced a new iPad mini with a larger 8.5-inch OLED display. The tablet features a thinner and lighter design than its predecessor and is powered by an A20 Pro chip. The new iPad mini starts at $699 for the Wi-Fi model and $849 for the Wi-Fi and cellular model. The tech giant revealed the new device just days before its “Pro and Tell” event that’s scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
The new iPad mini is 5.4 mm in thickness, and available in two colors.
The device delivers peak brightness of up to 1,200 nits, more than twice that of the previous generation device, along with full screen brightness of 600 nits for SDR and HDR content and a 2 million:1 contrast ratio. Apple says the iPad mini is ideal for dim-light environments.
The iPad mini also comes with a new nano-texture display option that reduces glare in bright environments, a feature already available on the iPad Pro. The updated tablet now also features a 12-megapixel center stage front camera, faster wireless and cellular connectivity, and fast-charge support.
The Super Retina XDR display uses OLED technology for pixel-level lighting control, delivering deeper blacks, richer contrast, and support for the P3 wide color gamut for more vibrant colors.
It also features an “Acoustic Display” that Apple says enhances the audio experience when gaming, watching videos, or editing content. Specially designed woofers integrated into the display deliver deeper bass and higher volume for richer sound, per the company.
The new iPad mini launches with the next generation of Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, which can draw on a user’s personal context to help them find what they need, answer questions, and understand what’s on their screen.
Powered by a 7 core GPU with Neural Accelerators in each core, the iPad mini has up to 4.5-times faster AI performance than the previous generation, according to Apple. Additionally, The A20 Pro also features a 6 core CPU, delivering up to 60% faster multithreaded performance for everyday tasks such as photo editing and multitasking across apps.
The device can be pre-ordered on October 28, with availability beginning November 6.
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Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.
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