Hands-on with the 2024 iPad mini: Spot the differences

The previous model had already abandoned Apple’s proprietary Lightning connection for the industry-standard USB-C, but this updated USB-C port supports transfer speeds up to 10Gb/s, much faster than the previous model. (That’s data transfer, while charging seems the same.)

The USB-C port returns, this time with faster data transfer.

Credit:
Samuel Axon

The camera system is mostly the same as before, but Apple has added support for Smart HDR 4, the latest version of its computational photography algorithms that combines multiple rapidly taken photos into one image, using the best features of all of them. This process offers benefits like better low-light photography and improved highlights. There’s also 4K video capture support.

I don’t think there are many iPad mini photographers out there, but hey, not going to say no to improvements.

Lastly, there have been improvements to the display that should mitigate some of the jelly scrolling that irritated a subset of owners of the previous generation of the iPad mini.

Apple Pencil Pro support

Apart from improved CPU, GPU, and NPU performance, the biggest addition here is Apple Pencil Pro support.

Introduced this spring, the Pencil Pro has lower latency than prior Pencil models, but at least as importantly, it has several new sensors and feedback features to make it more versatile. You can squeeze the pencil lightly to bring up a new options panel to quickly switch tools, among other things. There’s also a sensor that lets you roll the pencil to change the orientation of some tools.

Pencil Pro isn’t cheap, though—it’s $129. I imagine most digital artists want the largest canvas possible, so they’re not looking at the mini. But for more casual users, it’s nice to have the option.

Though it be but little, it is fierce

There are a lot of things I like about the iPad mini. It’s comfortable to hold, making it ideal among Apple’s tablets for reading or browsing the web. Typing on it while holding it in landscape mode feels ideal for me, though your mileage may vary, as hand sizes, of course, vary.