Apple’s next iPad mini refresh might not happen until 2025, but a late 2024 launch shouldn’t be ruled out just yet

The current 6th-generation iPad mini has been around since 2021 which means that it is very much due a refresh. That update is expected to happen soon enough, but quite how soon is another matter entirely.

Apple didn’t update any of its iPad lineup last year and it’s just about to release the M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air, but we’re still waiting for the entry-level iPad and iPad mini to be updated. Now, a new report has added some detail as to when we should expect to be able to ditch the old iPad mini and upgrade to something new.

Unfortunately, that report doesn’t make for good reading and it might be enough to make some people rethink waiting entirely.

2025 or bust

The report in question comes via Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, writing in the weekly Power On newsletter. Gurman was responding to a question from a reader who asked when we can expect a new iPad mini to arrive when he said that it could land in late 2024 at the earliest.

That statement leaves the door open for the 7th-gen iPad mini skipping 2024 entirely and instead arriving in 2025. The current model was released in September of 2021 which means there’s a very good chance that Apple’s diminutive tablet will go more than three years before updates.

That’s less than ideal for a variety of reasons, not least the hope that Apple will address the famous jelly scrolling issue that has plagued the current tablet since its introduction.

If you’re waiting for the new iPad mini, now might be a good time to ponder whether perhaps an iPad Air could be in your future instead.

More from iMore

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• Where’s the iPad Mini 7? I’m sick of jelly scrolling
• This is the one feature I want most from the iPad mini 7

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to ‘explain’ those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn’t looked back. Since then he’s seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He’s been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.