Soon after Apple updated most of its hardware for use with Apple Intelligence, the Smart Folio for iPad mini was updated to Generation 7 with the A17 Pro chip—the bare minimum processor to allow Apple Intelligence features. At the time, Apple described Apple Intelligence as “the easy-to-use personal intelligence system that understands personal context to deliver intelligence that is helpful and relevant while protecting user privacy.”
This iPad mini had an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display (2266 x 1488 at 326 ppi, 500 nits brightness). Apple described the A17 Pro chip as offering “a huge performance boost for even the most demanding tasks, with a faster CPU and GPU, [and] a 2x faster Neural Engine than the previous-generation iPad mini.” This iPad mini also added support for the Apple Pencil Pro.
The iPad mini front camera was 12MP and included Center Stage: “as you move around, the camera automatically pans to keep you centered in the frame.” Apple described the back camera: “The 12MP wide back camera supports Smart HDR 4 for natural-looking photos with increased dynamic range, and uses machine learning to detect and scan documents right in the Camera app.” In addition, the back camera could record 4K video.
This iPad mini was available in three muted tones including Blue, Purple, and Starlight—and Space Gray. This example is Blue.
This iPad mini was 7.69 inches tall, 5.3 inches wide, and 0.25 inch thick. It weighed 0.65 pound. All buttons were along the top on the short side opposite the USB-C port, including the 2 volume buttons and the Top button with Touch ID. Each of the short sides also had speakers that allowed stereo sound output. Unlike other iPad models of the time, the front camera was placed on the short side.
Sources: Apple (press release, product page, specs)
