Apple on Tuesday introduced a new version of the iPad mini, updated for the Apple Intelligence era. The arrival is powered by the A7 Pro chip and offers compatibility with Apple Intelligence, the company's new generative AI offering.

The new addition marks the 8.3-inch device's first major update since 2021. The A17 Pro was announced last year and comes on top of the iPhone 15 Pro. This premium device was, in turn, the first Apple phone to officially support Apple Intelligence. That changed with an event in September that introduced the feature to the newly announced iPhone 16 lineup.

The A17 Pro has a six-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores and a five-core GPU. Both should offer significant performance improvements over the A16 Bionic that shipped with the 2021 model. The big news on this front is the Neural Engine, which provides access to Apple Intelligence via iPadOS 18.

Highlights of Apple's little answer to ChatGPT and Google Gemini include writing tools and an all-new Siri experience. However, Apple Intelligence is still a work in progress. Additional features, such as Image Playground graphics generation and ChatGPT integration with Apple Intelligence, are still in development.

The addition means Apple Intelligence is now available across the entire iPad range. However, it is the only one of the four devices to have a mobile chip, unlike the M4 found in the latest base iPad and iPad Pro. The iPad Air now runs on the older M2.

The new iPad also gets the revamped Calculator app, which responds to handwritten notes. In this regard, the Mini is compatible with Apple's Pencil and Pencil Pro, offering more flexibility for artists and those who simply prefer taking notes.

The rear-facing 12-megapixel wide-angle camera supports Smart HDR 4 for more balanced lighting in photos. The Mini retains TouchID functionality built into the power button, rather than switching to FaceID, which is available on the Pro model.

The new iPad starts at $499 for 128GB of storage, twice as much as its predecessor. The iPad mini with cellular connection is now available starting at $649. The tablet can be pre-ordered starting today and will ship from October 23rd.