The 2021 iPad Mini is still a worthwhile tablet—but the lack of storage space and trade-in bonuses make the latest model all the more appealing.
A Great Little Tablet
I love my iPad Mini. Before I picked it up in 2021, I was initially put off by the $499 price, but this tablet has been well worth the money and then some. The Mini was the perfect size to replace my neglected Kindle and offered more flexibility with what I could read thanks to the color screen and easy access to web browsers—not to mention being able to download all of my reading apps without any restrictions.
But, of course, the iPad can do more than that. I also began making art and drawing again with it (even if the Apple Pencil was expensive for a stylus, it was worth it), and I even downloaded a few games on it.
No Need For an Upgrade—Or Is There?
When the seventh generation iPad Mini was announced, I didn’t think I needed it. After all, my current Mini is still going strong, and the upgrades are minimal. However, the one big difference is the storage—and with 128GB, it’s double the amount on the base 2021 iPad. But anyone who plays games can tell you that 64GB is not enough room to keep your titles downloaded.
I only have one game installed on my iPad Mini at the moment—Honkai: Star Rail. It’s not the smallest game available on the Apple Store (and certainly takes up more space than emulated classics), but I can’t keep any other game installed with it. The storage space needed for the game, plus the extra space needed to install updates, means I can’t keep any other game downloaded—not even Mahjong Soul, which was only a couple of GBs.
It’s frustrating, and it becomes even more problematic when you realize you can’t expand your iPad’s storage. Sure, you can use iCloud or another cloud storage service to free up some space, but that doesn’t solve the problem of the apps themselves taking upstorage.
128GB of data would allow me to install Star Rail and other games while worrying less about clearing out drawings and images from my iPad (even if they’re already backed up). It’s nice to be able to look at them, after all, and it’s not the easiest thing to do that with IDrive.
Trade-In Credit Lightens The Blow
Of course, it’s still hard to swallow a $500 price tag just for a bit more storage. However, Apple offers trade-in services to lower the price while getting rid of your old tech. When I checked, my current iPad Mini would get me $210 off the newest model. Could I try selling my old iPad on eBay and get more? Possibly, but simply trading the tablet in would save a lot of time and frustration.
So even if the newest iPad Mini doesn’t have many upgrades, an internal storage upgrade might be worth the price of admission alone. However, I don’t need the Apple Pencil Pro upgrade—at least, not yet.
Apple iPad mini (2024)
The seventh-generation iPad Mini packs an AI-ready A17 Pro chip, Apple Pencil Pro support, and 128GB starting storage.
