Apple is reported to be working on a new iPad Mini which, as noted Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo claimed, will enter the mass production phase starting end of 2023 or early 2024. It has only been in 2021 that Apple launched the latest generation iPad Mini which came with several landmark features that made for the first serious makeover for the device ever since it was first launched way back in 2012.
However, the upcoming iPad Mini, which is going to be the seventh generation of the smaller iPad version, is going to be an incremental upgrade over the current version. What that means is there is going to be a bump in specs at the most with the design remaining largely the same. As Kuo speculated, the biggest USP of the new iPad Mini is going to be a new more powerful processor that should allow it to be more performance oriented than ever before.
However, Kuo also stated the upcoming iPad Mini device isn’t expected to be a folding version as many have been speculating. There have been reports earlier of Apple working on a foldable device which many claimed is going to be the next generation iPad Mini device. However, with Kuo now claiming Apple working on a new iPad Mini, what is amply clear is that a new foldable iPad Mini isn’t on the horizon at the moment, at least not before 2025.
The other possibility is that Apple would instead launch a foldable device that would be pitched in the notebook segment and might replace the MacBook. However, given that foldable devices come with a premium price tag, a large foldable in the MacBook segment would be priced insanely high. A more feasible option could have been a device of the sort of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 that folds vertically along the middle to reveal a tablet form factor. That way, the device could serve as sort of an iPhone in the unfolded state and a small iPad – read iPad Mini – when unfolded.
As for the present generation iPad Mini, it comes with an 8.3-inch display and an A15 Bionic chip on the other side of it. Other notable features of the latest iPad Mini include Touch ID integrated within the Power button, support for 5G cellular connectivity, and a USB Type-C port. However, the biggest change with the new iPad Mini is a completely new design with equally slim bezels on all sides.
That came as a welcome change over the previous gen iPad Mini which had a thicker chin and forehead compared to the side bezels, a design theme has been the same ever since the iPad Mini was launched and persisted with every subsequent model thereafter. The chin also hosted the Power button that has now been shifted to the top. The upcoming new iPad Mini is expected to follow the same design theme but with upgraded internals.
