The 12.9-inch iPad Pro sits next to my home desktop computer. Its beautifully large screen is a creative canvas I love using, Face ID continues to feel futuristic, and the magnetic, second-gen Apple Pencil is so darn convenient. Cue my disappointment as I first laid eyes on the new iPad Mini. Apple hasn’t refreshed its smallest slate since 2015, and after four years, I felt like we’d see something akin to the redesign of the latest iPad Pro tablets. Alas, I was too hopeful.
The iPad Mini (fifth generation) has a near-identical body to its predecessor, with almost the same chunky edges around the 7.9-inch screen. It even skips out on Face ID and resurrects Touch ID, which I thought we wouldn’t see again after its presence on the 2018 iPad. None of this means the iPad Mini is a bad tablet. In fact, it’s the best in its size category: It has beastly performance, the software is fluid, and the display is quite stunning. It’s just holding onto some quirks we would have liked not to see in 2019, even if it does just cost $400 (or half the price of an iPad Pro).
This review is a work in progress. We’ll be updating it with the final verdict soon.
Same design, nice display
Looking at the iPad Mini puts me back in 2015. It feels so out of place in today’s world of edge-to-edge screens on smartphones, laptops, and TVs. The thick edges flanking the 7.9-inch screen stick out, especially on the silver and gold color options that have a white front. Now this is partly subjective — if the thick edges around the screen don’t bother you at all, then you’ll absolutely have no issues with this device.
But what’s so great about the iPad Mini is what’s in its name. It’s “mini,” and compact. At 7.9 inches, it’s easy to hold this tablet with one hand while reading, and at just 0.66 pounds (0.68 for the cellular model), with just a 6.1mm thickness, using it for some time doesn’t feel weary. It should be noted, there simply aren’t a lot of small tablets left in the market — especially powerful ones — short of the Huawei MediaPad M5.
So the screen doesn’t feel as immersive as the fantastic one outfitted on the 2018 iPad Pro — that doesn’t mean it’s not stunning. It gets decently bright (500 nits, to be exact), and it’s a Retina display with a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution at 326 pixels per inch. Text and images on the screen look indelibly sharp. The colors also look vibrant off the LED-backlit screen, and that’s thanks to support for wide color display, which is new in the iPad Mini series. Apple has also added support for True Tone display, which changes the color tone of the screen depending on the environment you’re in to make it easy on your eyes.
The excellent screen experience is paired with Touch ID at the bottom bezel on the front, which, in case you forgot, is the home button. You can still use iOS gestures — like on the iPhone XS — to navigate the operating system, but the home button helps take you home whatever app you’re in. Using the fingerprint sensor to access sensitive apps or to unlock the iPad Mini itself is relatively fast, though I’ve gotten used to the convenience of Face ID on the iPad Pro and Apple’s latest phones, which now feels faster, as it unlocks as soon as it sees my face.
Looking at the iPad Mini puts me back in 2015.
Touch ID does have a leg up on when you’re trying to unlock the tablet when it’s flat on a table, though, as you don’t need to pick it up to unlock. I can see people happy with the return of Touch ID, which I don’t mind at all.
There’s no Alert Slider on the tablet anymore. You’ll just find a power button at the top (in portrait orientation), and a volume rocker on the top right edge. At the bottom edge is a Lightning charging port, which is flanked by bottom-firing speakers.
Apple sees its iPad range like buying a car — the lower in price you go, the fewer features you get. I get it; with a lower price, you get compromises. But I don’t care if Face ID isn’t available or if there’s no USB-C port — I want a more modern design. Apple could have made something truly special here, if it could make my heart flutter just by looking at the 7.9-inch iPad Mini, the same way it does when I look at the iPad Pro.
Powerful specs, and iOS 12
The biggest changes to the iPad Mini are on the inside, and there are some impressive upgrades. It’s powered by the same chip that’s inside Apple’s latest iPhones — the A12 Bionic processor — which is still one of the fastest mobile processors on the market. It’s not as good as the A12X Bionic inside the latest iPad Pros, but you’re still getting plenty of power.
And iOS 12 feels buttery smooth on the Mini. Apps are quick to open, navigating the OS feels fluid, and games like Marvel Strike Force run flawlessly without issues. We’ll be doing a little more testing here to see what its limits are, but it’s safe to say most people won’t find the power here lacking. Perhaps if you’re looking to do a ton of editing on Adobe Photoshop or video editing on Premiere Rush, then it may make sense to go with the bigger screen and more powerful iPad Pro devices.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Short of what you get with iOS on an iPhone, you can expect a few tablet-specific features, like a dock that shows recently-used apps, as well as multitasking features like Split-View, Slide Over, and the ability to drag-and-drop files between two apps open next to each other. You can also expect this tablet to get software updates for several years, so it should last quite a while.
You get a 64GB of internal storage on the base iPad Mini model, but you can upgrade to the 256GB one if you want more space, for more money.
The Apple Pencil
The original Apple Pencil debuted alongside the iPad Mini 4 back in 2015, but it only worked with the iPad Pro at the time. Last year, Apple brought Pencil support to the base iPad, and now both the new iPad Air and the iPad Mini support it too. But this is the original Apple Pencil, not the newer, second-gen model that only works with the 2018 iPad Pro.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
It’s still fantastic using it to sketch on drawing apps. It’s responsive, and Apple’s palm rejection technology is one of the best, allowing me to place my hand anywhere while drawing, without worrying about activating the screen.
But having used the second-gen Apple Pencil extensively, I’m a little spoiled. I love the matte texture of the newer stylus, which is also smaller and more lightweight. It also has a nice flat edge, which is a great place to rest my thumb, but more importantly, it’s where you magnetically attach the Pencil to the iPad Pro to charge it wirelessly.
But what’s so great about the iPad Mini is what’s in its name. It’s “mini,” and compact.
I sincerely miss this so much when using the original Apple Pencil on the iPad Mini. It’s harder to tell immediately how much charge is available on it without turning on the iPad Mini, and if you do need juice, you need to remove a cap at the other end of the Pencil and plug in the Lightning connector to the iPad Mini’s Lightning port. It’s a clunky way to recharge it, not to mention it feels as though I’ll snap the Pencil off accidentally if I’m not careful. It also means there’s no good place to store the Pencil, and I’m always worried about damaging it as it sits freely in my bag.
But it’s still nice to see Pencil support on a tablet with a smaller size. It’s easy to use the Pencil while holding the Mini with one hand, which is perfect when commuting.
Keep in mind, the Apple Pencil doesn’t come with the iPad Mini — it still costs an additional $99, bringing your total purchase cost to $500.
Camera and augmented reality
You shouldn’t be using a tablet to take photos outdoors — the camera in your smartphone is undoubtedly better. But the camera on a tablet can be handy for taking pictures of documents, though increasingly it’s being used for augmented reality (AR) applications.
It’s an 8-megapixel lens on the back, and image quality looks good enough for a tablet. I did more testing with AR apps, though, and it feels perfect on this slate because it’s such an easy device to use one-handed. I played a short demo of Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs, which isn’t available just yet, but the gameplay was incredibly smooth, the animations and graphics were well-detailed, and the interaction between the virtual objects and the real world looked perfect.
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
I played the AR mode in a game called Stack AR, and augmented reality added an extra level of fun because the objects feel like they’re right there in front of you. I’ll be testing more AR apps to see how the Mini holds up, but from what I’ve seen so far, the A12 Bionic chip seems to crush all the tasks I’ve thrown at it.
There’s a 7-megapixel camera on the front, which is handy for FaceTime, using Animojis, Memojis, or for taking a plain old selfie, but there’s nothing to write home about here.
Battery life
I’ve been using the iPad Mini in intermittent periods for two days, and it’s currently around 40 percent. I haven’t used it continuously for hours on end, so I don’t have a full picture of what battery life is like, but it should get you by without issue. Apple claims 10 hours of consistent usage, which is par for the course, and should be sufficient for most people. I’ll be testing battery life more and will have final thoughts soon.
Price, availability, warranty information
The IPad Mini comes in space gray, silver, and gold, and it starts at $400 for the base 64GB storage option. You can also get a 256GB model, but the price jumps to $549. It’s available for order now on Apple’s website, though it starts shipping next week.
The base model is Wi-Fi only, but if you want to stay connected to the internet at all times, there’s a cellular version of the iPad Mini you can buy for $529. You’ll still need to pay for a monthly data plan through your carrier, which will likely cost around $10 a month.
iPad Mini 5 Compared To
Microsoft Surface Go
Google Pixel Slate
Amazon Fire HD 8
Huawei MediaPad M5 Pro
Apple iPad 9.7-inch (2018)
Amazon Fire HD 8 (2017)
Xiaomi Mi Pad 3
LeapFrog epic
Lenovo Tab 2 A8
Dell Venue 8 Pro
Barnes & Noble Nook HD+
Toshiba Excite 7.7
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE
Motorola Xyboard 8.2
BlackBerry PlayBook
Apple offers a standard one-year warranty that covers the iPad Mini from manufacturer defects, and not much more, though you do get 90 days of complimentary tech support. You can purchase AppleCare+ to get two years of warranty coverage, and you also get coverage of up to two incidents of accidental damage.
Conclusion
The iPad Mini is the best tablet you can get for people looking for something small, but powerful. At $400, it’s still expensive, but the market for small tablets is incredibly thin that you don’t have a lot of other choices. There is the Amazon Fire HD 8 to consider for just $80, but it has too many compromises, and it won’t deliver strong performance. The Huawei MediaPad M5 is also a solid option that’s a little more powerful, but Android on a tablet isn’t as optimized as iOS on iPads. There is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e to consider, as it’s also $400, but it’s a bigger-sized tablet. The iPad Mini reigns king here.
I love almost everything about the iPad Mini. If you can’t tell by now, the one change that would have made it perfect for me would be been a design refresh to make it look contemporary. If you can live with its current look, then you’ll be thoroughly satisfied here.