iPad mini 6 reportedly landing soon with a new design

iPad mini (2019)
The iPad mini (2019) (Image credit: TechRadar)

A few different sources have now suggested that the iPad mini range will be getting a redesign with the iPad mini 6 this year, and we’ve now heard the same again, along with an agreement on the likely release window.

In Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman (who has a great track record for Apple information), claimed – according to 9to5Mac - that the iPad mini 6 will have a similar design to the iPad Air (2020), meaning no home button and presumably thinner bezels.

Gurman reportedly described this as “the biggest redesign in the nine-year history” of the iPad mini range, and added that it will also include the latest processor. It’s not clear exactly what Gurman means by that, since we’d be surprised if it has the M1 chipset found in the iPad Pro (2021) range, but perhaps it will have the A14 Bionic chipset of the iPhone 12 range and the iPad Air (2020).

Coming soon

Finally, Gurman apparently said that the iPad mini 6 “should be a go” for a release this “fall” (likely meaning September, October or November).

This is all in line with what we’ve heard before from multiple sources, so it’s likely the case, and with Gurman reiterating these rumors now it seems nothing has changed on the design or release date front since those previous leaks.

Of course, we still can’t be certain of any of this, but it seems very likely that a redesigned iPad mini will be out before the end of the year. That’s good news for fans of Apple’s smaller slates, as the iPad mini 5 landed all the way back in March 2019, and it wasn’t as much of an upgrade as this sounds like it will be.

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.