The redesigned $499 iPad mini finally catches up with the times

Enlarge / The new iPad Mini takes most of its cues from the iPad Air 4. (credit: Apple)

After years of stagnating in the same look and features, Apple's iPad mini will finally get a major redesign akin to last year's iPad Air update, the company announced today.

Like other recent iPads and iPhones, the iPad mini drops the home button to make more room on the front of the device for a larger, almost edge-to-edge screen. However, it does not feature Face ID like the iPad Pro. Rather, it follows the 2020 iPad Air in featuring a TouchID fingerprint reader on one of the power button for authentication. It also leaves behind Apple's long-standing, proprietary Lightning port in favor of industry standard USB-C—a change that also came to other recent iPad redesigns.

The new iPad Mini will be available for pre-order today, and will begin shipping next week.