The iPad mini is Apple’s most infrequently updated tablet. Still, there used to be a pattern to the upgrades it received when its time finally came: take the features of the most recent iPad Air and put them in a smaller package. That’s been Apple’s approach to the mini for years. But that time seems to have passed.

Today’s iPad mini update features an A17 Pro chip, not the M2 featured in the latest iPad Air. This has been rumored for quite some time, but I was hoping against hope that Apple would surprise us here. An M-series iPad mini capable of running Stage Manager when connected to an external display would be the most versatile tablet Apple has ever produced. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

The choice of the A17 Pro chip over the A18 chip is an interesting one. It’s obvious that Apple wanted to make the iPad mini capable of running Apple Intelligence, but it’s also considered common wisdom that the company wants to get away from the fabrication technology used to make the M3 and A17 Pro chips. The iPad Pro skipped M3 and went straight to M4, and rumors suggest that M3 Macs will be upgraded to M4 sometime next year. Unless there’s another iPad mini update in the near future, it will be the only device in production that uses this older fabrication process for a while to come.

A few more stray thoughts on the new iPad mini:

The blue and purple finishes are great, and I’m glad space grey remains an option rather than midnight.
Apple Pencil Pro support means that the Apple Pencil 2 can finally be retired, bringing some much-needed clarity to the Pencil line.
Doubling the base storage tier to 128 GB is a great move. Previously, I couldn’t recommend the base version of the iPad mini with only 64 GB of storage, but 128 is just right.

I love my iPad mini, and I’ll be sticking with it for the time being. Apple Intelligence and Apple Pencil Pro aren’t things I currently feel the need for on my little tablet. If, like me, you don’t consider those features necessary, you can pick up the outgoing version of the iPad mini at a $100 discount right now.

Maybe someday the iPad mini will realign itself with the iPad Air and we’ll get the tiny powerhouse many of us have been waiting for. Today isn’t that day, but I’m glad to see the mini getting some attention and updates to keep it in step with the current lineup – even if this particular update isn’t for me.