Just a good product

The iPad mini proves that this form factor is still desirable and useful even in an age of larger smartphones. With the A12 processor at an affordable base price, Apple’s smallest tablet is a tiny powerhouse of a computer. Yes, the design is seven years old but with the addition of Apple Pencil support and with decent battery life, Apple has breathed new life back into the iPad mini. Not everyone wants or needs to spend £1,000 on an iPad Pro.

Great performance; Decent battery life; Apple Pencil support;

Dated design; Average cameras;

Apple's new $399 iPad mini has almost all the power of the iPhone XS, at half the price. It's the tablet to get if you have demanding software needs, but you want something that will fit in a hand, a lab coat, or on a vehicle mount. Apple has done its usual yeoman job here, and there aren't many other tablets on the market that are both small and powerful. That makes the 2019 iPad mini our Editor's Choice for small, high-end tablets. iPad mini Use Cases Who's the iPad mini for? That's going to color a lot of my judgment from here on out. I'll say that it's not for people who want a "cheap iPad" or a "cheap tablet." There is a better cheap iPad for your kids to play Toca Boca games on—the $329, sixth-generation, 9.7-inch iPad—and much cheaper tablets for basic use. But if you look around, there are a lot of iPad minis in business. Smaller tablets work well on vehicle mounts, as point-of-sale systems, for taking your restaurant order, for writing a prescription by a bedside, for g...

Apple's iPad mini is the only small, premium tablet you should consider buying right now.

Powerful processor; Solid screen; Broad LTE options; Apple Pencil support; Light and easy to carry

Compatible Apple Pencil isn't the better model; Aging design

Light and portable; Powerful and fast; Display is excellent; Surprisingly versatile;

Design feels dated; Cameras aren’t amazing…; … and neither are the speakers; Uses the older Apple Pencil;

Light and portable; Powerful and fast; Display is excellent; Surprisingly versatile;

Design feels dated; Cameras aren’t amazing…; … and neither are the speakers; Uses the older Apple Pencil;

When Apple announced the first iPad mini in 2012, the tablet's purpose was clear: It squeezed just about everything that made the regular iPad such a pleasure to use into a smaller, cheaper package. It's no wonder the mini built such a devoted following.

While I obsess over smartphones and often find myself switching SIM cards daily, I tend to try only Apple iPads on an annual basis and then just for a few months before moving on. I passed my 2015 iPad Mini 4 to my youngest daughter and then my 2017 iPad Pro 10.5 inch tablet to my oldest daughter as...

Diminutive size for a tablet; Solid construction and simple design; Lightning fast performance; Apple Pencil support; Long battery life; 3.5mm headset jack

Large top and bottom bezels; $130 cellular premium

While I obsess over smartphones and often find myself switching SIM cards daily, I tend to try only Apple iPads on an annual basis and then just for a few months before moving on. I passed my 2015 iPad Mini 4 to my youngest daughter and then my 2017 iPad Pro 10.5 inch tablet to my oldest daughter as...

Diminutive size for a tablet; Solid construction and simple design; Lightning fast performance; Apple Pencil support; Long battery life; 3.5mm headset jack

Large top and bottom bezels; $130 cellular premium

Apple has a reputation for forcing change on us right when we've gotten comfortable with its designs. Sure, we often resist (and sometimes Apple is wrong), but more often than not the Cupertino company proves that breaking out of our comfort zones leads to better user experiences and perhaps even a...

Powerful A12 Bionic chip delivers remarkable performance; Support for first-generation Apple Pencil; Pleasantly portable size

Older design is starting to show its age

The iPad Mini might seem like the odd man out in the iPad lineup, but it's still the best small tablet you can buy in 2020....

Small and light Excellent performance Great iPadOS 14 features Little competition

Dated design No Apple Pencil 2 support No USB-C charging