All-new iPad Mini Announced With 5G, USB-C, and Larger 8.3-inch Display

Apple has announced its all-new iPad Mini. It features a new enclosure with narrower bezels and rounded corners. From a report: The big news is that it's larger than the iPad Mini 5 with an 8.3-inch display (up from its predecessor's 7.9-inch panel), making the device even more viable as a driver for multitasking or schoolwork. Apple says the screen can reach 500 nits of brightness. The iPad Mini is currently Apple's smallest tablet, even with the bump in size. Apple was rumored to have been considering a Mini LED display on the new iPad, similar to that of its largest iPad Pro. Those appear to have missed the mark; the new Mini sports a regular Liquid Retina display. The new iPad Mini is up for preorder today and will be available next week starting at $499.

Larger Mini?

[TechyImmigrant]

Isn't the value proposition of a 'mini' iPad that it's small? Doesn't making it bigger make it less of a mini?

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[IronTek]

I assume that, with the decreased bevel size, the new mini is roughly the same size as the old one.

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[TechyImmigrant]

>is slightly smaller in height and width but slightly thicker.

There's a joke in there somewhere.

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[BeerFartMoron]

>is slightly smaller in height and width but slightly thicker.

There's a joke in there somewhere.

I'll say it. "iPad Maxi"

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[arglebargle_xiv]

Sure, but it's Apple. A 0.4" larger screen and a slimmer borders should make the front page of the New York Times, if not the six o'clock news on all channels.

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[OrangeTide]

The new Mini Cooper is much larger and heavier than the original Mini. At this point it is about the brand name rather than the literal meaning of the word mini(ature).

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[BillAtHRST]

My 2018 Mini Cooper may be much larger and heavier than the original, but trust me, it's definitely still "mini"

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[OrangeTide]

This is all relative, a Kia Rio is about 1 kg lighter than the base Mini Cooper. It's just a sub-compact car, and similar in size to others in the same market segment. And relative to cars 50 years ago in the UK or 30 years ago in Japan, it's not mini. (safer and more practical though!)

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[Anonymous Crowded]

Like you, I didn't read the article, but it says larger screen, which usually involves shrinking the bezel. This could be a nice refresh - the iPhone 13 has a larger BATTERY. It's almost as if they're reading our minds . . . or the fifty-million posts about "don't make it smaller, give us more battery". Crazy times.

No: They are the same size

[Misagon]

They are the same size.
The new one has a 16:10 aspect ratio display, whereas the old one has a 4:3 display -- and you can't compare diagonals of screens with different aspect ratios directly.

I calculated that the new iPad Mini's 16:10 8.3" screen is only about 1 1/3 square inch larger than the old one, and that isn't much at all.
Then I measured in the published (pixel) images: the new enclosure is about the same size, within a couple mm.

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[MachineShedFred]

It's entirely possible for the overall size to remain the same, but the display panel to get marginally larger. There was bezel width on previous models that can be reduced.

Finally USB C

[imcdona]

It's about time they start using USB-C. I doubt we'll see it in a phone anytime soon but this is progress.

iPad Pro

[JBMcB]

The iPad Pro and Air introduced in May also uses USB-C. I'd bet the next round of iPhones will use it.

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[EvilSS]

I hope so but I can already see the complaints about Apple's "blatant money grab" forcing people to buy new cables and accessories when they do move to USB C.

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[JaredOfEuropa]

At least with USB-C you can now buy any brand cable. Same for the accessories. How many commonly used accessories are there that rely on lightning connectors anyway, apart from cradles?

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[EvilSS]

You can buy any brand lightning cable today though. As for accessories: dongles, IR cameras, docks as you mentioned, etc. Considering I still, to this day, run into people bitching about Apple ditching the 30 pin connector, I fully expect the same or worse when they go to USB C.

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[Merk42]

I think iPhone will sooner go portless with MagSafe than go to USB-C. I'd love to be proven wrong though.

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[Hadlock]

We bought the new Air for the house last fall when it came out, specifically because it had USB-C

We'll probably pick one up for the boat now, the 8" mini model as it's USB-C and that matches the cable system we have on the boat. The Air is just too big to be used full time in the cockpit, and hard to justify that kind of expense for something that might fall and get damaged. But the mini is just on the edge of being usable on the boat.

I'll never buy a lightning cable device.

Looks nice, but no headphone out

[c120plus]

Looks nice, but no dongle-free headphone output, like the prevouis mini.

Which means that I'll run my Mini5, which I bought on release day, until it's no longer fast enough.

But it's great to know that Apple supports this size - which is my favorite Ipad size (since the normal sized
ipads are not portable enough)

Re: Looks nice, but no headphone out

[NoMoreACs]

Looks nice, but no dongle-free headphone output, like the prevouis mini.

A quick look on Amazon reveals a plethora of USB-C earbuds/headsets, some as cheap as $13.

And of course thereâ(TM)s Bluetooth.

Next ridiculous objection?

With proper options...

[WoodstockJeff]

it's the top of the line iPhone 13.

What a stupid statement

[kenh]

The big news is that it's larger than the iPad Mini 5 with an 8.3-inch display (up from its predecessor's 7.9-inch panel), making the device even more viable as a driver for multitasking or schoolwork.

I'm sorry, that last 0.4" diagonal was what was holding back the iPad mini from being a "more viable...driver for multitasking or schoolwork"?

That's just Olympic-grade stupid.

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[MachineShedFred]

Yeah I really don't know what the author was on about with that. I'm just glad that Apple has stopped ignoring the iPad Mini, or giving it surplus two-year-ago processors like they used to. I've always really liked the 8" tablet form factor, but other than the iPad Mini and the Nvidia Shield tablet back in the day, they've all been shitty devices to live with.