Apple's new iPad mini 7 looks the same as before, but it has AI smarts

After three years of waiting, Apple has finally updated the iPad mini, bringing it to its seventh iteration.

The new iPad mini looks the same as before (though it does come in two new colors, blue and purple), with its 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display surrounded by bezels of equal width on all sides.

Inside, however, a lot has changed. The new iPad mini is powered by Apple's A17 Pro chip (that's the one from Apple's iPhone 15 Pro), and comes with 128/256/512GB of storage memory, doubling the starting storage from previous generation.

The more powerful chip will make the new iPad mini better at running demanding, new games, but it also brings support for Apple Intelligence, with features such as AI-powered Writing Tools, photo Memories, Image Playground, and a smarter, more integrated Siri. The AI features will be available this month, when iPadOS 18.1 becomes widely available; you can check out our overview of some features that are available in beta right now.

The 12-megapixel camera on the back supports Smart HDR 4, and there's also a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide camera on the front. The iPad mini now comes with Wi-Fi 6E support for faster connectivity, as well as Apple Pencil Pro support (available separately).

Some of the old colors are gone, so you now have four choices total: blue, purple, starlight, and space gray.

Apple's iPad mini starts at $499 for the Wi-Fi model, and $649 if you want cellular connectivity.