Under the bonnet is a binned version of the A17 Pro chip. This means the chip, initially designed for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, has been repurposed for the iPad Mini 7. Although it has one less GPU core than the iPhone models, the overall performance is unlikely to be significantly affected for most tasks.

According to the press release, the chip is 30 per cent faster, the GPU is 25 per cent faster GPU, and the Neural Engine is twice as fast as the previous model. Even if this is true, given that the previous model was released three years ago this is not a huge feat. 

The base model has 128GB of storage rather than 64 GB. The extra space will be needed to run anything remotely AI. However, this is unlikely to be enough, so Apple will offer 256GB and 512GB versions which will cost an arm and a leg.

The mini has a Wi-Fi 6E chip and a USB-C port (which was forced on Apple at gunpoint).  

While the Tame Apple Press is getting all moist about the release, it does appear that everything about the iPad Mini is the same as before. It has a slight speed increase, and the case comes in new purple and blue models (because that is so damn important).

Prices start at $499 for the Wi-Fi model and $649 for the mobile models.