Apple announces new iPad mini with A17 Pro chip, Pencil Pro and Apple Intelligence support – 9to5Mac

Apple today unveiled a new generation of iPad mini, upgraded to be powered by the A17 Pro chip. That’s the same chip as the iPhone 15 Pro. This means the new iPad mini can support the full suite of Apple Intelligence features. It also features support for the Apple Pencil Pro.

The new iPad mini is priced at $499, with 128 GB storage — that’s double the storage of the previous generation for the same price. Customers can order iPad mini right now, with deliveries from next week, starting October 23.

The A17 Pro CPU is up to 30% faster than the A15 Bionic chip found in the previous iPad mini, and the new GPU is up to 25% faster. The A17 Pro chip also enables the USB-C port to max out at USB 3 (10 Gbps) speeds. For the first time, iPad mini also supports Wi-Fi 6E for faster wireless connectivity when at home.

In terms of industrial design, the iPad mini appears almost identical to the prior model. However, it does features some new colorways including blue and purple.

One new design change is a magnetic charging region on the side of the tablet to support the Apple Pencil Pro. That allows the Mini to wirelessly pair and charge the Apple Pencil Pro. iPad mini is also compatible with Apple Pencil (USB-C), by plugging a cable into the USB-C port.

The iPad mini will ship with iOS 18, without Apple Intelligence. The first Apple Intelligence features, like Writing Tools and the Reduce Interruptions focus mode, will become available as part of iOS 18.1. iOS 18.1 is expected to be released to the public by the end of October.

The new iPad mini is on sale now, in WiFi and cellular configurations starting at $499 and $649 for 128 GB storage, respectively. You can configure the iPad mini up to 512 GB storage.