Prime Day Is a Great Time to Buy an IPad Mini
Apple’s iPad mini is a unique device in the company’s portfolio: it’s tiny , much smaller than the base iPad, but still has modern iPad features like a magnetic Apple Pencil and an edge-to-edge display. The thing is that it is expensive, considering that it is already more than three years old. If you walk into an Apple Store today, the company will happily sell you a Mini for $499. Don’t spend half a thousand dollars on this iPad mini.
You’ve been able to pick up an iPad mini on sale at third-party retailers for a while now, but if you’re interested in picking up this tiny tablet, today may be the best day to do so: Amazon is currently offering the iPad. minis are 30% off: You can get it for $349.99, which is $150 off the list price, making it just about the cheapest tablet there has ever been.
Here’s what that gets you: The iPad mini (6th generation) has an 8.3-inch display that, again, is nearly edge-to-edge. Because there’s little space inside the tablet’s bezel (and because this has become the norm), you don’t have a Home button. You also don’t have Face ID like you do on other iPads and iPhones. Instead, you’ll unlock your iPad and authenticate using the Touch ID sensor built into the power button.
This iPad is also equipped with the Apple A15 Bionic processor. This is the same chip found in the iPhone 13 series, as well as the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus. In any case, it is not new, but not very old either. It’s certainly powerful enough to run iOS 18 , as well as most of the apps and games you might want to use, so unless you’re interested in using Apple Intelligence features, you probably won’t miss out on much with this hardware.
However, with this model you only get 64GB of internal storage, which fills up quickly unless you use cloud solutions for photos, videos and other files. Instead, you can purchase the 256GB version , which quadruples the storage capacity, for $499.99. That’s nearly $150 off the list price of $649. Cellular models are also on sale as part of Prime Day if you want to connect your iPad to a cellular plan for on-the-go connectivity, priced at $499 (64GB) and $649 (256GB) .
All models are available in four color options: pink, purple, space gray or starlight.
New iPad mini could be just around the corner
The only catch is that Apple may be planning to release a new iPad mini next month . This is not confirmed in any way: Apple does not announce product releases in advance and does not update the iPad annually, as it does with the iPhone. (Obviously, considering the iPad mini came out in September 2021.) If the rumors are true, the Mini 7 will feature an upgraded processor, possibly the A17 from the iPhone 15 Pro or the A18 from the iPhone 16, which will likely allow it to run Apple features Intelligence. It may also support the new Apple Pencil Pro .
However, until a few years have passed, these updates probably won’t make much of a difference. Eventually, Apple will stop supporting the A15 chips, and A17 devices will continue to receive software updates for some time. But in the near future, Apple will likely support A15 devices like the iPad mini 6 for some time.
However, the iPad mini 7 won’t cost $349. If you’ve been wanting an iPad mini at an affordable price, now is the best time to buy. However, if you want the best iPad mini at any cost, wait and see if Apple releases one.