iPad Mini Review: For Accessibility’s Sake, Your Mileage May Certainly Vary

Until very recently, I used the heretofore current version of the iPad mini. It was the sixth generation model, redesigned in 2021, with the A15 Bionic chip and 256GB storage with 5G cellular. It was a birthday gift from my partner a few years ago, a lovely device because of its diminutive stature and, in my opinion, the “purest” iPad in the lineup.

After years of using various iPads as a laptop replacement for travel, the pandemic came and moved me away from my iPadOS-for-productivity mindset. The mini appealed because, again, it was the one iPad that stayed truest to Steve Jobs’ original vision for the tablet. It was a device that sits between a smartphone and a laptop that can be used casually whilst sitting in a plush leather chair similar to the one Jobs sat in during the original iPad’s introduction back in 2010. Specifically, the iPad mini appealed precisely because I lost my taste for power-using iPadOS, yet remained smitten by the product overall. For the last few years, the iPad mini satisfied my needs with aplomb. I was content.

Then a few weeks ago, my partner and I spent a couple days belatedly celebrating my birthday in Las Vegas. While there, she bought me the all-new M4 13” iPad Pro—since complemented by a corresponding Magic Keyboard—and I was smitten because (a) I still had yet to see the OLED-screened device since its debut earlier this year; and (b) I’d forgotten the glory of iPads with ginormous screens. Without getting too far into the nitty-gritty, I quickly realized the opportunity before me. I could use the iPad as a tablet, made easier by its exceedingly thin profile and aforementioned OLED display, while also using it as a laptop while on the go. The M2 MacBook Air in my office that was originally conceived as my travel Mac could pivot into becoming my new desktop once I somehow acquired the external display of my dreams. Until that day, my trusty yet tired Intel iMac from 5 years ago will have to suffice.

Et tu, iPad mini?

While I was in Seattle last week on a reporting trip, Apple announced a refreshed iPad mini. It features an A17 Pro chip capable of running Apple Intelligence and support for Apple Pencil Pro. Some days later, Apple sent me the new iPad mini, a 512GB model in purple with cellular, along with the Apple Pencil Pro, for testing. My high-level take is the new one is not markedly better than its predecessor, save for Apple Intelligence. Whereby the new iPad isn’t “markedly better,” I don’t mean that pejoratively. It merely means, for my general use case of reading and watching video—not to mention communication and the occasional email triaging—the refreshed mini feels only modestly better in my experience. More noteworthy to me is how my time spent using the new mini, however brief, has taught me key lessons about my just-as-new iPad Pro as well—which ultimately has given me an entirely new perspective on what I want from an iPad nowadays. It’s worth mentioning too that my lust for the Pro Display XDR is born of pragmatism; its screen is larger than that of the Studio Display and the mini-LED backlight tech makes for better brightness. Yay, accessibility!

For Jordyn Zimmerman, the iPad mini is the best iPad.

“iPad mini is extremely portable and ultra durable,” she said to me earlier this week in a new interview conducted over email. “This is huge for me in terms of accessibility and communicating on the go. So many people have never experienced someone communicating with iPad, so the subtle size and weight also keeps me belonging and being socially relevant, especially as I take iPad mini with me everywhere I go.”

Zimmerman, whom I interviewed back in May, is a 29-year-old nonspeaking autistic person known for her advocacy of the disability community. She explained she primarily uses iPad mini as a communicative tool, leveraging both a bespoke augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) app and an accessibility feature in iPadOS called Live Speech. Zimmerman described her iPad mini as her “access point” to how she engages with the world, as she told me she’s constantly finding herself navigating multiple apps and pieces of software in order to share her thoughts. This can happen anywhere, from eating at restaurants to giving presentations to scenarios in other places.

“[The iPad mini is] how I connect with the world,” she said.

For my usage, I share Zimmerman’s appreciation for the iPad mini’s svelte size. It’s for this reason why I believe the mini represents the purest expression of Jobs’ original conceit for the tablet. It’s extraordinarily easy to pick up the device and hold it whilst lounging on the couch. Moreover, its 8.3” display is plenty large enough to immerse in tasks such as reading, watching video, and the occasional typing. As someone who tries with earnest, yet with frustratingly futile results, to read more in Apple Books, the iPad mini’s form is perfectly suited for such a task. The same can be said for browsing social media, websites in Safari, and more. As bombastic as it sounds, the reality is iPad mini truly is a nigh-perfect device for doing the things Jobs said tablets excelled at.

Ah, but the screen. In isolation, the iPad mini’s screen is not bad at all. On the contrary, it’s quite good. Apple knows how to build good-looking displays. The problem is that I’m not testing the iPad in seclusion; I do have access to the M4 iPad Pro. For fun (and for journalism’s sake), I literally put the two tablets side by side in portrait orientation. Even my low vision noticed a substantial difference between the two screens, not only in sheer size but in quality too. The iPad Pro’s OLED panel was the reason I was so excited to get the device—and it does not disappoint. I’m long accustomed to the OLED screens on my iPhone and Apple Watch, but the iPad Pro’s—especially on the 13”—literally shines on a different scale. It’s big and bright, which makes any sort of content infinitely easier to see. The iPad Pro literally and figuratively dwarfs the iPad mini.

In comparison, not only is the iPad mini’s screen smaller, it also feels dimmer and less crisp. It remains eminently usable, but it goes to show the premium display technology is reserved for the highest-end iPad. From an accessibility standpoint, the moral of this story is simple: no matter how svelte the iPad mini’s form is, the display is its most important attribute for someone with low vision. Crucially, it’s taught me that (a) like my affinity for the iPhone Pro Max, big screens are the best; and (b) it speaks to Apple’s hardware engineering prowess that, in the iPad Pro, I can enjoy a giant screen in a remarkably thin and light body.

I’ll concede my Platonic ideal for an iPad is an iPad mini with an OLED display. Such a device surely will arrive someday, likely sooner than later at that. But I can’t review the iPad mini on that promise. What I can—and should—review is the product shipping this week to customers. It’s assuredly a great little tablet. Whether it works for you in terms of accessibility depends on your needs and tolerances. For Zimmerman, the iPad mini is portable and plenty powerful enough for her to act as a conduit for effective communication. For myself, while I’m smitten by it for all it is and can do, circumstances changed. It so happens my birthday caused me to reassess what I truly need and want out of a tablet. This testing period has taught me to continually challenge myself in considering the tools I use. As a regular reviewer, I use a lot of tools—so there’s no excuse to get complacent and dogmatic in my choices.

For Zimmerman’s uses, the new iPad mini is an exciting development.

“I’m really happy—and very relieved—that iPad mini is continuing,” she said of the advent of the refreshed iPad mini. “I definitely had some wishlist items for it in terms of volume, sound quality, battery life, etc. But the fact that it’s living on is the biggest for me. I’m eager to experience how the A17 Pro chip in iPad mini makes the system move quicker. In general, I am really excited for how Apple Intelligence can be leveraged on iPad mini for living, learning, and communicating.”

Where Zimmerman and I have commonality in terms of the iPad mini lies in Apple Pencil Pro. Like me, she told me she doesn’t use the peripheral with iPad mini. In my case, I’m perpetually jealous of those with many more artistic bones in their body than I have, as I have deep respect for the technology packed into the Pencil Pro and for the creativity it coaxes from artists and/or designers. As it stands, I’m sorely tempted to reallocate the Pencil Pro included in my reviewer’s kit and play around with it on my iPad Pro. I wish I could create more than mere stick figures, but I’m positive it’ll be a fun experiment to try nonetheless.

Is the new iPad mini good? Yes. Is it an iterative update compared to its predecessor? Also yes. But as I argued in my iPhone 16 Pro review, minor is relative. My friends and colleagues with embargoed reviews today will argue otherwise, but whether iPad mini works for you in terms of accessibility depends on your perspective. Perhaps you’re like Zimmerman, taking the device everywhere and using it as a “power tool” for communication. Likewise, maybe your motor condition(s) make it such that the iPad mini is the only iPad you can manipulate accessibly—and you want a bigger screen to try Apple Intelligence. Whatever the case, both are perfectly valid reasons for upgrading that transcend the mainstream tech consensus that “minor” updates are yawn-inducing.

Or maybe you’re like me and discover the iPad Pro is better for you.

It’s okay! The iPad mini can still be right for people like Zimmerman.