Today we will write a review about the iPad mini 6 (2021); the iPad mini is no longer like its previous version. I am still amazed how Tim Cook revolted the urge to say, I shrunk the iPad Air” on the launching ceremony of Apple’s flagship tablet, and that’s what the company did later on.
Apple has brought an exceptional screen, longer battery life, and high speedApple’s A15 Bionic chip for the users that still comes in iPhone 13.
And by doing so, Apple has created yet another of the most excellent tablets available today, bolstering the case for a premium-quality pint-sized tablet. At 8.3 inches, it’s the tablet that makes you wonder why you didn’t simply purchase a giant phone instead. That audience, though, isn’t seeking a tablet that can be used to read books and comics, browse the internet, and accomplish other things with only one hand.
The iPad mini 6’s only real drawbacks are for multitaskers and typists who prefer Apple-made keyboards. Should you invest in the iPad mini 6 2021? Here’s all you need to know about why Apple’s tiniest iPad is one of the company’s most significant upgrades.
Furthermore, the new iPad mini 6 includes a capability that the iPad Air does not: When you’re on video calls, you’ll want to be in the center of the screen. Should you choose the iPad Mini 6 over the iPad 9? Should you splurge on the iPad Air 2020 instead? In my iPad mini 6 reviews, I’ll go over the answers to these questions.
The iPad mini 6’s only real drawbacks are for multitaskers and typists who prefer Apple-made keyboards. Should you invest in the iPad mini 2021? Here’s all you need to know about why Apple’s tiniest iPad is one of the company’s most significant upgrades.
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Date of release and cost
The iPad mini 6 is available at local merchants and on Apple’s website. The 64GB option starts at $499, and you can upgrade to 256GB for $150 more, bringing the total to $649. LTE cellular connectivity adds $150 to the total price, bringing it to $899.
A Black Friday offer on the iPad mini 6 for $459 at Walmart went live in less than two hours, so don’t wait and keep an eye on our best Black Friday iPad deals page.
The $499 price tag is $100 higher than the previous $399 price tag for the iPad mini 5. However, you’ll be receiving a far more intriguing iPad in this case.
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Design
I’d pinch the iPad mini 6’s cheeks and nose if it had them because it’s so lovely. However, compared to the normal iPad, the slate’s moniker may appear deceptive. It’s smaller, but it’s not a mini version of the ordinary iPad; rather, it’s a shrunk-down version of the iPad Air, as I indicated earlier (2020) Apple iPad mini 6.
It has the same almost bezel-free design as the iPad Air, and On the side, there’s a Touch ID-enabled power button, no home button, flat sides, and a USB-C port. It’s possible that “iPad Air small” is too long a name for Apple, but that’s precisely what it is.
The iPad mini 2021, like the iPad Air, is available in a wider spectrum of colors than the iPad. Apple sells the mini in a variety of colors, including purple, pink, Starlight (which looks like champagne), and the Space Gray we tested.
The iPad mini 6’s frame measures 7.7 x 5.3 x 0.25 inches, which is significantly smaller than the iPad Air 4’s (9.7 x 7.0 x 0.24 inch) and iPad 9’s (9.7 x 7.0 x 0.24 inch) frames (9.8 x 6.8 x 0.29 inches). The Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (8.4 x 4.9 x 0.31) are roughly identical to those of the Galaxy Tab A7 (by 0.35 square inches on size and 0.06 inches in thickness).
The iPad mini 6 weighs 0.65 pounds less than the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (.81 pounds), iPad Air 4 (1.01 pounds), and iPad 9. (1.09 pounds). Because of its small weight, it’s straightforward to operate with just one hand, which is something that other high-end tablets lack unless you have Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s biceps.
Because the iPad mini 2021 lacks the Home button, where the iPad 9 hides its Touch ID, the biometric Touch ID sensor is housed in the lock/power button (like the iPad Air 4). The Galaxy Tab A7 Lite, on the other hand, offers facial recognition, which is something that no iPad but the more expensive Pros has.
Touch ID was simple to set up on the iPad mini, and it quickly unlocked the device and validated my identity for Apple Pay.
The new iPad mini ditches the Lightning port in favor of USB-C, which we hoped Apple would do with the regular iPad. The iPhone, AirPods Max, and AirPods case are the only devices that use the Lightning port.
Unfortunately, the iPad mini 6 lacks a headphone jack, which is another feature it “acquired” from the iPad Air. This is OK for those who like Bluetooth and AirPods, but my wired headphones continue to work, and I wish the iPad mini six would support them without using a USB-C to headphone jack adaptor.
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Display
As we re-watched the Spider-Man: No Way Home teaser, I observed that the iPad mini 6 had one of the nicest screens for a tablet of its size. The amber glow of Doctor Strange’s tremendous spell (which he assured Wong he wouldn’t cast) and the green beaming out of the goblin grenade on the road looked fantastic, as did the reds of Peter Parker’s outfit. The complexities of Strange’s spell, the crumbling highway beneath Parker, and the white textures of Doctor Strange’s winter wonderland of a living room were all excellent touches.
However, while the screen is clearer, I observed one difficulty with this small screen: splitting your screen between apps might result in tiny text in Safari (try a 66 percent vs. 33 percent split over a 50/50 split to improve this) or extremely small touch targets. As a result, the iPad mini 2021 is more of a one-at-a-time gadget than a multitasking device.
However, when it comes to color output, an iPad screen is an iPad screen, since the iPad mini 6’s 103.1 percent sRGB output (as measured by our colorimeter) is quite similar to that of the iPad 9 (105.3 percent) and iPad Air 4 (105.3 percent) (102.9 percent ). The Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (81.8%) has fewer colors.
However, with a maximum brightness of 520 nits, the iPad mini 6 outshines all of those tablets. The iPad 9 (472.7 nits), iPad Air 4 (440 nits), Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (315 nits), etc., are all brighter than the Galaxy Tab A7 Lite.
The iPad mini six does have one display flaw that some users find bothersome. Some units appear to have a “jelly scrolling” issue, where both sides of the display scroll at different speeds, especially in portrait mode. This is something we expect Apple to fix.
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Bionic performance A15
The A15 Bionic system-on-chip drives the iPad mini 6, with a six-core CPU, five-core graphics, and a 16-core Neural Engine. And, given the A14 Bionic’s performance on the iPad Air 4, I’m not shocked that the iPad mini 2021 is a quick tablet. After I split my screen between 12 Safari tabs and a 1080p YouTube movie, there was no lag.
The iPad mini 6 scored 4,540 on the Geekbench 5 multi-core general performance test, beating out the iPad Air 4 (4,262, A14 Bionic), iPad 9 (3387, A13 Bionic), and Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (907, MediaTek MT8768T).
We watched the Knicks take on the Heat in NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition while playing a quarter or two of basketball, and everything went flawlessly. Coach Tom Thibodeau’s anger appeared genuine, and it reminded me of Trey Young’s victory over NY in the first round of the playoffs.
Apple’s machine learning methods, like Live Text, benefit from such speed. This (one of my favorite) iPadOS 15 feature allows you to choose text in images simply by keeping your finger down on the image. This worked exactly as well on my iPhone 12 Pro Max and the 2020 iPad Pro models as it did on my iPhone 12 Pro Max and the 2020 iPad Pro models.
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Audio
The dual speakers on the iPad mini six can produce a surprising amount of sound for such a small device. When I heard it correctly reproduce Hayley Williams’ vocals on Paramore’s “Hard Times,” where guitars and drums emitted clearly, I realized what it was capable of.
I observed some (but not too much) of the bottom end of the sound spectrum when I played on Grandtheft and Keys N Krates’ EDM tune “Keep It 100” to check out the bass. On Pusha T’s “Come Back Baby,” the bass rumbled, although I thought it could have used a little more.
When used in landscape mode, the iPad mini 6 enables stereo sound, just like the iPad Air 4. (but not in portrait).
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Apple Pencil 2 but no Apple Keyboard
While the iPad mini 6’s flat edges enable it to accept the wonderful Apple Pencil 2 ($129), it lacks the iPad Magic Keyboard, which we enjoy on the iPad Air 4 and iPad Pro. This is most likely due to the iPad Mini 6’s 8.3-inch screen being too small to accommodate a keyboard with adequate vital sizes.
The iPad mini’s compatibility with the Apple Pencil 2nd Gen, on the other hand, is fantastic because it makes the device so much easier to operate. The Lightning port on the first version Apple Pencil had to be plugged into the bottom of an iPad to charge, which was always tricky. Instead, the Apple Pencil 2nd Gen charges by clamping magnetically onto the iPad mini 6’s flat edge sides.
The Apple Pencil 2 enables fast input with low latency, just like before. When using the iPad’s Scribble feature, which converts handwriting into type, that performance is also beneficial. It’s the ability to use the Apple Pencil to scribble into text fields and have that handwriting converted into real text. It even works with my scribbled-on-chicken-scratch handwriting.
And, as much as I wish the iPad mini 2021 had an Apple-designed Magic Keyboard, it, like all tablets, supports Bluetooth keyboards. When I tested it with the Logitech MX Keys and MX Master 3, everything worked perfectly. I considered how the iPad mini 2021 would be the perfect size for a second screen on my desk (especially since the Clock app’s World Clock mode will save my lazy brain from having to do the easy math to find out what time it is for my colleagues all over the world).
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Cameras
I understand why people want to use a tablet as a camera as it gets smaller, and the iPad mini 2021 is an excellent example. Its 12-megapixel front and rear cameras produce good image quality, with the latter capturing the greens and many spikes of the cacti in my living room and the dark purples of a dying protea flower.
The iPad mini 5’s 7MP camera has been replaced with a 12MP FaceTime HD camera, which is equally, if not more, crucial news. On our morning Google Meet call, my colleagues said I looked incredibly crisp, and the camera has Apple’s Center Stage technology, which maintains you in the center of the frame even if you move around in front of the camera. It’s cool, and it works better than the auto-framing feature of the $169 Logitech StreamCam, in my experience.
I found that the selfie camera takes good photos, accurately recreating my skin tones and the blue of my t-shirt. Although it isn’t the sharpest sensor I’ve ever seen, it did pick up some detail in the small amount of stubble.
The iPad 9 (12MP front-facing, 8MP rear) comes with a less-sharp rear camera, the iPad Air 4 (7MP front-facing, 12MP rear) lacks Center Stage, and the Tab A7 Lite (2MP front-facing, 8MP rear) lacks both sensors.
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Life of the battery
Apple advertises “all-day battery life” of up to 10 hours on a single charge, but our tests indicate that they’re exaggerating (again). For a tablet with so many pixels to illuminate, the iPad mini 6 lasted 10 hours and 56 minutes on our Wi-Fi-based battery test (continuous web browsing at 150 nits till it dies).
The Apple iPad mini 6 iPad mini outlasts the Air 4 (10:29) and Tab A7 Lite (10:07) by nearly an hour, while the bigger iPad 9 (11:59) lasts slightly longer. We’re betting there’s more space for a bigger battery.
Review of the iPad mini 6 (2021): Verdict
This fall, I expect a barrage of queries regarding the new iPad mini, as iPad owners debate whether they should upgrade or stick with what they have. Those looking for a Apple iPad mini 6 tablet with a great screen need to go no farther than the iPad mini 2021. And, because of the mini’s fast A15 Bionic processor, you should be able to run even more demanding apps on it Apple iPad mini 6.
You may save $170 on the $329 iPad 9 if you want an even longer battery life. Do you anticipate a lot of typing? The iPad Air 2020 beckons, but it’ll set you back an extra $100, plus $299 for the Magic Keyboard. Do you want an 8-inch tablet that’s less than half the price of the iPad Mini 6? The screen on the $159 Galaxy Tab A7 Lite isn’t as sharp as the iPad mini 6, the performance isn’t as fantastic, and the battery life isn’t as long.
People looking for a great one-handed Apple iPad mini 6 tablet experience for reading books, viewing shows, and movies should look into the iPad mini 2021.
