José Adorno/BGR

Apple sells four different iPad lineups: the base iPad, the mini, the Air, and the Pro. While the company usually offers its products with a smaller display at a cheaper price, there's actually a $150 price difference between the iPad mini and the base iPad — and the smaller tablet is the more expensive. The reason behind that is that Apple doesn't offer the iPad mini as an entry-level product, but more of a niche, capable device in an easier to hold form-factor.

Over the years, the iPad mini changed from just a small form-factor iPad to a completely revamped, premium experience starting with the iPad mini 6. In its seventh generation, this tablet now has the powerful A17 Pro chip, which was the same available with the iPhone 15 Pro, 8GB of RAM, and is Apple Intelligence-capable.

The base iPad, on the other hand, features the A16 chip, first introduced in 2022, has less RAM, and is currently the only Apple tablet that doesn't support AI features. Still, this is just the beginning of why the iPad mini is more expensive than the regular iPad, as there are several other perks that make the iPad mini a better choice for a certain audience of creatives, journalists, and other niches that might make use of a smaller form-factor with powerful capabilities.

José Adorno/BGR

Besides the internal specs, the iPad mini has a better display than the regular iPad. For example, Apple offers P3 wide color support, while the cheaper version features sRGB color. An antireflective coating is also a perk of the mini. These display features make the iPad more color accurate and more interesting for those who require a proper screen to draw, color an image, and so on.

Another thing that makes this iPad a lot more pro is support for the Apple Pencil Pro. While this more expensive pen is also available for the latest iPad Air models, it's interesting that Apple still limits support for the base model iPad, which can only use the regular USB-C accessory. With that, users of the cheaper product lose hover support and a more precise drawing and handwriting experience.

The iPad mini also has improved WI-Fi capabilities with Wi-Fi 6E support, while the base model uses Wi-Fi 6. Combining all that with Apple Intelligence support, the iPad mini becomes a more interesting choice, as the current offer has limited specs. Still, one thing that it's important to note is that Apple, fortunately, offers the same storage capacities for both tablets, going from 128GB to 256GB, and 512GB. Previous versions of these tablets used to offer 64GB of storage, which was insufficient to update the system to a new software version.

ridho try syahpitra/Shutterstock

The last time the iPad mini was updated was late 2024, and the base iPad got a refresh in early 2025. That said, these devices are both expected to get important upgrades. For the base model, Apple is rumored to introduce a more capable A18 or A19 chip, bringing not only a big leap in performance to this tablet, but also adding support for Apple Intelligence. The company's custom Wi-Fi and 5G chips should also become available in this model, making it a more solid choice for anyone looking at a budget, but still great option.

However, while the base iPad might be looking like a better deal, Apple also has big plans for the iPad mini, as it's expected to get upgraded with an OLED display (marking yet another premium feature compared to the rest of the iPad lineup), the A19 Pro chip, and possibly 12GB of RAM to run Apple's latest and best AI models directly on the device.

The latest rumors also suggest the iPad mini could get a slightly increased display and bring a water-resistant design, as Apple is planning to switch the current speaker to a vibration-based system. With a complete revamp since the iPad mini 6, this new tablet could become more expensive due to the OLED display and other components costing more. Still, even when both of these tablets get upgraded, the iPad mini will continue to focus on a more specific audience, while the base model will appeal to more people.