Apple Announces New Fifth-Generation iPad Mini With Apple Pencil Support, Revamped Retina Display and A12 Bionic Chip

Apple today launched a new fifth-generation iPad mini, featuring an upgraded A12 Bionic processor, first-generation Apple Pencil support, a new advanced Retina display panel, and the same $399 price tag as the previous model.

Apple says that with the new A12 Bionic chip, the ‌iPad‌ mini now delivers three times the performance and nine times faster graphics. Meanwhile the advanced Retina display with True Tone technology and wide color support is 25 percent brighter and has the highest pixel density (3 million) of any ‌iPad‌.

Elsewhere, an 8-megapixel rear camera brings improved low-light performance and HD video recording, while the front facing camera has been bumped up to 7 megapixels for better-quality selfies and FaceTime HD.

The new ‌iPad‌ also benefits from the same Wi-Fi performance and Gigabit‑class LTE that's built into the latest iPad Pro models, and retains the headphone jack found in previous ‌iPad‌ mini models.

"‌iPad‌ continues to provide magical new experiences for a growing range of uses where it is the absolute best device, from playing games in augmented reality to note-taking and drawing with ‌Apple Pencil‌, from streaming HD movies and editing 4K films to learning to develop apps with Swift Playgrounds," said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Today the ‌iPad‌ family takes two big leaps forward with an all-new 10.5-inch iPad Air that brings high-end size, features and performance at a breakthrough price, and a major upgrade to the 7.9-inch ‌iPad‌ mini, which also brings ‌Apple Pencil‌, Retina display and the A12 Bionic chip to the many customers that love its compact size."

Available in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold, and in 64 and 256GB storage capacities, the new ‌iPad‌ mini starts at $399 for the Wi-Fi model and $529 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. An ‌Apple Pencil‌ (1st generation) is available for purchase separately for $99. Online orders for the new ‌iPad‌ mini begin today on the Apple website, with availability in Apple stores and select resellers starting next week.

The ‌iPad‌ mini 4 has been discontinued.