# A Quick Overview of the 2024 iPad Mini: What’s Different?
The iPad mini has consistently catered to a select group of users who prioritize portability and compact design in a tablet. The sixth-generation iPad mini, launched in 2021, bridged the gap in performance and features with its larger counterparts. Nevertheless, with a few years passing without updates, the mini began to fall behind in embracing the latest Apple features and technologies. Enter the refreshed 2024 iPad mini, launched on October 23. Although it resembles its earlier version, Apple has introduced several essential changes to ensure it stays relevant in the current tech environment.
Let’s explore the fresh features of the 2024 iPad mini and assess how it compares to its former version.
## A New Chip for Enhanced Apple Intelligence
The standout enhancement in the 2024 iPad mini is the new system-on-a-chip (SoC). The previous generation utilized the A15 chip, introduced with the iPhone 13 in 2021. In contrast, the latest iPad mini is powered by the A17 Pro chip, which debuted with the iPhone 15 Pro. This chip delivers significant performance upgrades, including:
– **6-core CPU**: 30% improvement over the A15.
– **5-core GPU**: 25% boost featuring dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated ray-tracing, and mesh shading.
– **16-core Neural Processing Unit (NPU)**: 100% quicker, particularly beneficial for AI-related tasks.
These performance enhancements are particularly advantageous for users engaging with high-demand applications such as video editing software or playing graphically rich games like *Genshin Impact*. Furthermore, the release coincides with Apple’s upcoming **Apple Intelligence** features, which are anticipated to debut shortly after the iPad mini becomes available for purchase.
### Apple Intelligence: What Is It?
Apple Intelligence refers to a collection of AI-powered features that will be incorporated into iOS and iPadOS 18. These features will include:
– Summarizing emails and notifications.
– Providing writing enhancements and suggestions.
– Improving Siri’s contextual comprehension.
– Creating images or emojis for messages.
While these features faced delays at the iOS 18 launch, they are set to roll out in updates 18.1 and 18.2. The A17 Pro chip in the new iPad mini is engineered to facilitate these AI innovations, positioning it as future-ready for users eager to leverage Apple’s newest software upgrades.
## Benchmark Assessments: How Does It Measure Up?
We conducted several benchmark tests on the latest iPad mini, and the findings matched Apple’s assertions. Although the A17 Pro chip presents considerable gains over the A15, it doesn’t quite reach the speeds of the M-series chips utilized in the iPad Pro and iPad Air. Here’s a brief overview of the benchmark outcomes:
– **Geekbench 5 CPU**: The iPad mini demonstrated a significant boost in both single-core and multi-core performance relative to its predecessor.
– **Geekbench 6 GPU**: The new GPU enhancements, such as hardware-accelerated ray-tracing, noticeably impact graphically demanding tasks.
Although the iPad mini doesn’t claim the title of the fastest tablet in Apple’s range, it remains more than capable of managing a variety of tasks, from gaming to light professional applications.
## Expanded Storage Options and Pricing
A highly appreciated update in the 2024 iPad mini is the broadened storage choices. The 2021 model came with only two options: 64GB and 256GB. In contrast, the new iPad mini starts with 128GB, effectively doubling the starting storage, and includes configurations for 256GB and 512GB.
Here’s a summary of the pricing:
– **128GB**: $499
– **256GB**: $599
– **512GB**: $799
Though the costs can become steep, particularly for the higher storage tiers, the increased configurations enhance the iPad mini’s versatility for a wider audience.
## Enhanced Connectivity and Additional Specifications
In addition to the new chip and storage options, the 2024 iPad mini includes several other modest improvements:
– **Wi-Fi 6E**: Provides faster and more stable connectivity, supporting speeds of up to 2.4Gb/s.
– **Bluetooth 5.3**: An upgrade from Bluetooth 5.0, offering improved energy efficiency and range.
– **USB-C Port**: The USB-C port now supports transfer speeds of up to 10Gb/s, representing a notable upgrade from its predecessor.
While the camera remains largely unchanged, it now includes **Smart HDR 4**, which enhances low-light photography and highlights. Additionally, the display has been optimized to minimize the “jelly scrolling” effect noticed by some users in the 2021 model.
## Apple Pencil Pro Compatibility
One of
