Apple's refreshed iPad mini gets more RAM, making it even more awesome

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Ipad Mini 6 2021 Lifestyle Apple Pencil
Ipad Mini 6 2021 Lifestyle Apple Pencil (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

  • Apple's refreshed iPad mini gains an additional gigabyte of RAM.
  • New iPad minis ship with 4GB of RAM, rather than the 3GB found in previous models.
  • The new iPad mini now has the same amount of RAM as the iPad Air.

Apple's newly announced and refreshed iPad mini has a secret — it packs more RAM than any other iPad mini that came before it.

As discovered by MacRumors after digging into an Xcode beta, the new iPad mini has gained an additional gigabyte of RAM — it now has 4GB on tap rather than the 3GB that came in previous models.

For comparison, the latest iPad Air also has 4GB of RAM, while high-end iPad Pro models have as much as 16GB of RAM.

As the report notes, it's likely we will need to wait for a teardown or regulatory filing to be 100% sure of the extra gigabyte, but this method of spelunking into Xcode betas did confirm the amount of RAM last year's iPhone 12 had to offer, too.

The new iPad mini is now available for pre-order and will be available to buy next Friday, September 24. That's also the same day that Apple will make iPhone 13 and the refreshed iPad available for purchase. All of the new products were announced during Apple's recent California Streaming event, although there was disappointment to be had. Apple also announced the new Apple Watch Series 7 and it looks nothing like the leaks we'd seen beforehand.

That aside, Apple announced what is now the best iPhone ever alongside one of the best iPads ever. You can't really complain at that for a day's work.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.