The iPad Mini (branded and marketed as iPad mini) is a line of small

tablet computers A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being computers ...

developed and marketed by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

It is a sub-series of the

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

line of tablets, with screen sizes of 7.9 inches and 8.3 inches. The first-generation iPad Mini was announced on October 23, 2012, and was released on November 2, 2012, in nearly all of Apple's markets. It featured similar internal specifications to the

iPad 2 The iPad 2 is a tablet computer, tablet developed and marketed by Apple Inc. Compared to IPad (1st generation), the first iPad, as the second model in the iPad line, it gained a faster multi-core processor, dual core Apple A5, A5 processor, a ...

, including its display resolution. The

iPad Mini 2 The iPad Mini 2 (formerly marketed as the iPad mini with Retina display, officially iPad mini 2 with Retina display) is a tablet computer designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It has a nearly identical design to its predecessor, the first-gener ...

, with an A7 processor and a

Retina display Retina display is a branded series of LCDs and OLED displays by Apple Inc. that have a higher pixel density than their traditional displays. Apple has registered the term "Retina" as a trademark with regard to computers and mobile devices with t ...

, was announced on October 22, 2013, and released on November 12, 2013. The

iPad Mini 3 The iPad Mini 3 (stylized and marketed as iPad mini 3) is the third-generation iPad Mini tablet computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced alongside the iPad Air 2 on October 16, 2014 and released on October 22. It uses pri ...

was announced on October 16, 2014 and was released on October 22, 2014, alongside the

iPad Air 2 The iPad Air 2 is the second-generation iPad Air tablet computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced on October 16, 2014, alongside the iPad Mini 3, both of which were released on October 22, 2014. The iPad Air 2 is thinner, ...

; it features the same external hardware as the Mini 2 and the addition of a

Touch ID Touch ID is an electronic fingerprint recognition feature designed and released by Apple Inc. History In 2012, Apple acquired AuthenTec, a company focused on fingerprint-reading and identification management software, for $356 million. The acq ...

fingerprint sensor compatible with

Apple Pay Apple Pay is a mobile payment service by Apple Inc. that allows users to make payments in person, in iOS apps, and on the web. Supported on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro, Apple Pay digitizes and can replace a credit or debi ...

. On September 9, 2015, Apple released the

iPad Mini 4 The iPad Mini 4 (stylized and marketed as iPad mini 4) is the fourth-generation iPad Mini tablet computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced along with the iPad Pro on September 9, 2015, and released the same day. The iPad M ...

; which is a smaller version of the iPad Air 2. On March 18, 2019, Apple released the fifth-generation iPad Mini with support for the

Apple Pencil Apple Pencil is a line of wireless stylus pen accessories designed and developed by Apple Inc. for use with supported iPad tablets. The first-generation Apple Pencil was announced alongside the first iPad Pro on September 9, 2015. It communi ...

alongside the third-generation iPad Air. The sixth-generation iPad Mini was announced on September 14, 2021 alongside the ninth-generation iPad, with both devices being released on September 24, 2021. Matching the new design language of the current Pro and Air iPads, features included a larger 8.3-inch full-screen display,

USB-C USB-C, or USB Type-C, is a 24-pin reversible Electrical connector, connector (not a Communication protocol, protocol) that supersedes previous USB hardware#Connectors, USB connectors (also supersedes Mini DisplayPort and Lightning (connector) ...

port (instead of Lightning), top button with

(with home button removed), and support for the second-generation Apple Pencil. The seventh-generation iPad Mini was announced in a press release on October 15, 2024 and released on October 23, 2024. Featuring a near identical design to the sixth-generation, this model came with a more powerful A17 Pro chipset, allowing for

Apple Intelligence Apple Intelligence is an artificial intelligence system developed by Apple Inc. Relying on a combination of on-device and server processing, it was announced on June 10, 2024, at Worldwide Developers Conference#2024, WWDC 2024, as a built-in fe ...

features with

iPadOS 18 iPadOS 18 is the sixth and current major release of Apple's iPadOS operating system for the iPad. It was revealed at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). It is the direct successor to iPadOS 17 and was announced alongside iOS 18 ...

. Problems with "jelly-scrolling" in the previous model has also been reduced. This model additionally supports the Apple Pencil Pro, but drops support for the second-generation Pencil due to a change in magnets.

History

On October 16, 2012, Apple announced plans for a

media event A media event, also known as a pseudo-event, is an event, activity, or experience conducted for the purpose of creating media publicity. It may also be any event that is covered in the mass media or was hosted largely with the media in mind. Etym ...

on October 23 at the California Theatre in San Jose,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The company did not give the subject of the event, but it was widely expected to be the iPad Mini. At the event, Apple CEO

Tim Cook Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who is the current chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Cook had previously been the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs. Cook joined ...

introduced a new version of

MacBook MacBook is a type of Mac laptop computer that is developed and marketed by Apple that use Apple's macOS operating system since 2006. The MacBook brand replaced the PowerBook and iBook brands during the Mac transition to Intel processors, ann ...

family and new generations of the

MacBook Pro The MacBook Pro is a line of Mac laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple. Introduced in 2006, it is the high-end sibling of the MacBook family, sitting above the ultra-portable MacBook Air and previously the low-end MacBook li ...

Mac Mini Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of the company's four current Mac (computer), Mac desktop computers, positioned ...

, and the

iMac The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc., sold as part of the company's Mac (computer), Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evol ...

, then unveiled the fourth-generation iPad and the iPad Mini.

Features

Software

The iPad Mini comes with several pre-installed applications, including

Siri Siri ( , backronym: Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) is a digital assistant purchased, developed, and popularized by Apple Inc., which is included in the iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, Apple TV, audioOS, and visionOS operating sys ...

Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

, Mail, Photos, Video, Music, iTunes, App Store, Maps, Notes, Calendar,

Game Center Game Center is a service by Apple that allows users to play and challenge friends when playing online multiplayer social gaming network games. Games can share multiplayer functionality between the Mac and iOS versions of the app. Game Cent ...

, Photo Booth, and Contacts. Like all iOS devices, the iPad can sync content and other data with a Mac or PC using iTunes and to Apple's

iCloud iCloud is the personal cloud service of Apple Inc. Launched on October 12, 2011, iCloud enables users to store and Data synchronization, sync data across devices, including Apple Mail, Calendar (Apple), Apple Calendar, Photos (Apple), Apple Ph ...

online service. Although the tablet is not designed to make telephone calls over a cellular network, users can use a headset or the built-in speaker and microphone and place phone calls over Wi-Fi or cellular using a

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

application, such as

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

. iPads offer dictation when connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network. Applications from Apple and third-party developers can be downloaded through the

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

, an

application Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

market for iOS that is maintained and regulated by Apple. The service allows users to browse and purchase

applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...

. Optional apps from Apple that can be purchased through the App Store include

GarageBand GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...

iMovie iMovie is a free video editing software, video editing application made by Apple Inc., Apple for the Mac (computer), Mac, the iPhone, and the iPad. It includes a range of video effects and tools like color correction and image stabilization, b ...

iPhoto iPhoto is a discontinued image editing software application developed by Apple Inc. for use on its Mac OS X operating system. It was included with every Mac computer from 2002 to 2015, when it was replaced with Apple's Photos application in ...

, and the

iWork iWork is an office suite of applications created by Apple Inc., Apple for its macOS, iPadOS, and iOS operating systems, and also available cross-platform through the iCloud website. iWork includes the presentation program, presentation applicat ...

apps ( Pages,

Keynote A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

, and

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

) are available. The device has an optional

iBooks iBooks may refer to: * iBooks, the former name of Apple Books * ibooks Inc., a book and comics publishing company founded by Byron Preiss See also * iBook, a defunct series of laptops by Apple {{disambiguation ...

application, which displays books and other

ePub EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the ".epub" file extension. The term is short for ''electronic publication'' and is sometimes stylized as ''ePUB''. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smart ...

-format content downloaded from the

iBookstore Apple Books (known as iBooks prior to iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 Mojave) is an e-book reading and store application by Apple Inc. for its iOS, iPadOS and macOS operating systems and List of iOS devices, devices. It was announced, under the name iBo ...

. Several major book publishers including

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

and Macmillan have committed to publishing books for the device. Despite the iPad being a direct competitor to both the

Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, Audible audiobooks, and other digital media via wireless networking ...

and

Barnes & Noble Nook The Barnes & Noble Nook (styled nook or NOOK) is a brand of e-readers developed by United States, American book retailer Barnes & Noble, based on the Android (operating system), Android platform. The original device was announced in the U.S. i ...

, both

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

and

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

offer e-reader apps for the iPad. On June 8, 2015, it was announced at the

WWDC The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...

that all four generations of the iPad Mini would support

iOS 9 iOS 9 is the ninth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 8. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8, 2015, and was released on September 16, ...

. However, certain new multitasking features, such as Slide Over and Picture in Picture, will be limited to the second, third, and fourth generation. Split View, another new multitasking feature, is available only on the iPad Mini 4. The current version of iPadOS, iPadOS 16, is supported on iPad Mini 5 and up. The upgrade to this version is available as a free download. The first-generation iPad Mini shipped with iOS 6.0 and the highest supported version is iOS 9.3.6 (for cellular models) or iOS 9.3.5 (for Wi-Fi models).

Hardware

There are four buttons and one switch on the iPad Mini, including a "home" button near the display that returns the user to the home screen, and three aluminum buttons on the right side and top: ''wake/sleep'' and ''volume up'' and ''volume down'', plus a software-controlled switch whose function varies with software updates. The tablet is manufactured either with or without the capability to communicate over a

cellular network A cellular network or mobile network is a telecommunications network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless network, wireless and the network is distributed over land areas called ''cells'', each served by at least one fixed-locatio ...

. All models can connect to a

wireless LAN A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network that links two or more devices using wireless communication to form a local area network (LAN) within a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, campus, or office building ...

via Wi-Fi. The iPad Mini is available with 16, 32, 64 and 128 GB) of internal

flash memory Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

, with no expansion option. Apple sells a "camera connection kit" with an

SD card Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including dig ...

reader, but it can be used only to transfer photos and videos. The first-generation iPad Mini features partially the same hardware as the

. Both screens have resolutions of 1024 × 768, but the iPad Mini has a smaller screen and thus higher pixel density than iPad 2 (163 PPI vs. 132 PPI). Unlike the iPad 2, it has 5 MP and 1.2 MP cameras and the

Lightning connector Lightning is a proprietary computer bus and power connector, created and designed by Apple Inc. It was introduced on September 12, 2012, in conjunction with the iPhone 5, to replace its predecessor, the 30-pin dock connector. The Lightning c ...

. The system-on-chip is A5, which is the same one found in the later revision of the iPad 2 (32 nm). The audio processor is the same found in iPhone 5 and iPad 4th generation, which allows the iPad Mini to have Siri and voice dictation unlike the iPad 2. The

graphics processor A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a discrete video card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal co ...

(GPU) of the first-generation iPad Mini is the same one found in the iPad 2 (

PowerVR PowerVR is a division of Imagination Technologies (formerly VideoLogic) that develops hardware and software for 2D and 3D rendering, and for video encoding, video decoding, decoding, associated image processing and DirectX, OpenGL ES, OpenVG, and ...

SGX543MP2). iPads with a data connection can download data through cellphone networks, but can not make voice calls. They can act as a

hotspot Hotspot, Hot Spot or Hot spot may refer to: Places * Hot Spot, Kentucky, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Hot Spot (comics), a name for the DC Comics character Isaiah Crockett * Hot Spot (Tr ...

, sharing the Internet connection over Wi-Fi,

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

, or

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

Accessories

The

Smart Cover The iPad is an iPadOS-based (previously iOS) line of tablet computers designed and developed by Apple Inc.; it has a wide variety of accessories made by Apple available for it, including a screen cover specifically for the respective models of iP ...

, introduced with the iPad 2, is a screen protector that magnetically attaches to the face of the iPad. A smaller version is now available for iPad Mini. The cover has three folds, which allow it to convert into a stand, held together by magnets. Smart Covers have a

microfiber Microfiber (microfibre in British English) is synthetic fibre finer than one Denier (unit), denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometre, micrometers. The most common types of microfiber are made variously of polye ...

bottom that cleans the front of the iPad, and wakes up the unit when the cover is removed. It comes in six colors of

polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

. Apple offers other accessories, including a Bluetooth keyboard, several types of earbuds or headphones and many adapters for the

AppleCare AppleCare+ is Apple's brand name for extended warranty and technical support plans. It allows the customer unlimited incidents of accidental damage with a deductible (which, like the price of the plan, varies by device). AppleCare+ is available fo ...

and free

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

are also available for the iPad Mini.

Model comparison

The most recent model is the

iPad Mini (7th generation) The seventh-generation iPad Mini (stylized and marketed as iPad mini (A17 Pro) and colloquially referred to as iPad Mini 7) is a tablet computer in the iPad Mini line, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced on October 15, 2024 a ...

. The iPad Mini models are listed in a comparison grid.

Support

Models

Reception

Reviews of the first generation iPad Mini have been positive, with reviewers praising the device's size, design, and availability of applications, while criticizing its use of a proprietary power connector and its lack of expandable storage and

Retina Display Retina display is a branded series of LCDs and OLED displays by Apple Inc. that have a higher pixel density than their traditional displays. Apple has registered the term "Retina" as a trademark with regard to computers and mobile devices with t ...

for the first-generation iPad Mini. The device competes with tablets such as the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, Google Nexus 7, and Barnes & Noble Nook HD.

Joshua Topolsky Joshua Ryan Topolsky (born October 19, 1977) is an American technology journalist. He is also a record producer, and DJ under the stage name Joshua Ryan. Topolsky was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of technology news network ''The Verg ...

of ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' praised the industrial design of the iPad Mini, however panned its lack of

and price. The iPad Mini 2 was well received, praising the Retina Display and

Apple A7 The Apple A7 is a 64-bit system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc., part of the Apple silicon series. It first appeared in the iPhone 5S, which was announced on September 10, 2013, and the iPad Air and iPad Mini 2, which were both announce ...

chip performance, with criticisms on the price increase and the quality of the camera.

Timeline

Notes

References

External links

* – official site {{Apple

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

Tablet computers Touchscreen portable media players Tablet computers introduced in 2012 Products introduced in 2012 de:Apple iPad#iPad mini (erste Generation)