iPad mini 7 teases good news

Apple surprised everyone earlier this week with a low-key iPad mini 7 announcement. We knew the tablet update was coming, and we knew that it would only be a specs update this year. But we were all expecting Apple to hold a press conference later this month to introduce it. The event would unveil the iPad mini 7, M4 MacBook Pro, and other new Mac models.

The first thing I did when I saw the iPad Mini 7 press release was to scroll to the bottom and check the release date and price. The iPad mini 7 might be the perfect tablet for me, but that wasn’t why I checked the price. I wanted to see how much Apple would charge for the cheapest iPad mini SKU now that it has the same processing power as the iPhone 15 Pro.

It turns out that the price did not change. The old base price of $499 gets you a compact tablet with the A17 Pro chip, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. That’s a tremendous deal. I think it’s even better news for the upcoming iPhone SE 4, which should be the cheapest Apple Intelligence-ready iPhone in Apple’s lineup.

Comparing the $499 iPad mini 7 to the $999 iPhone 15 Pro isn’t exactly fair. The tablet is larger than the smartphone, and it features Touch ID instead of Face ID and an LCD instead of OLED panel. Face ID and the OLED screen are the more expensive components. Then there’s the cellular modem, which adds $150 to the price of the iPad mini 7.

Finally, the iPhone 15 Pro has a more complex camera system than the iPad mini 7. The tablet’s 12-megapixel wide-angle camera matches the M4 iPad Pro’s rear camera specs, but the iPad mini 7 doesn’t get the same high-quality module.

What matters here is that Apple made the A17 Pro chip with 8GB of RAM available at an incredible price point: $499.

Moving on to the iPhone SE 4, the upcoming phone is expected to feature the iPhone 16’s A18 chip paired with 8GB of RAM. Storage-wise, Apple will probably start at 128GB. Hopefully, the 64GB storage tier is gone for good as far as the iPhone is concerned.

The iPhone SE 3 successor should inherit the design of the iPhone 14 rather than the iPhone 15/16. That means a notch display with Face ID rather than the Dynamic Island. On the back, the phone will have a single-lens camera, similar to the iPhone SE 3 and the new iPads. But it should be a 48-megapixel wide camera, like on more expensive iPhones.

Several leaks repeated these claims, so it’s likely that’s what the iPhone SE 4 will have to offer. I said more than once that such an iPhone SE 4 option would be an amazing iPhone 16 alternative. But its success hinges on the price.

The iPhone SE 3, which features an A15 chip like the iPhone 13 and iPad mini 6, starts at $429 for 64GB of storage. It would be amazing for Apple to offer the same price point, but I don’t think it’s possible. However, I do expect the iPhone SE 4 to start at under $600.

At $499, it would be a steal, though $549 might be the more likely starting price. Remember that Apple still sells the iPhone 14 for $599 (or $629 without carrier deals).

The iPad mini 7 price suggests that Apple should be able to offer an affordable iPhone SE 4. Yes, Apple would have to use the A18 chipset and 8GB RAM for the latter. But a recent bill of materials estimate for the iPhone 16 series said the A18 Pro only costs $5 more than the A17 Pro. The A18 chip can’t be too far off. Memory and storage costs have also increased by $5 each compared to the iPhone 15.

According to the same bill of material estimate, the 5G modem used in the iPhone 16 Pro and 15 Pro costs the same, $28. However, rumors say Apple will use its own 5G modem in the iPhone SE 4. The component might be cheaper than Qualcomm’s alternative.

Finally, the iPhone 16 Pro’s entire triple-lens camera setup costs $80. The iPhone SE 4 will only get the 48-megapixel wide camera of the three.

Considering that Apple will be recycling iPhone 14 parts of the iPhone SE 4, and taking into account these apples-to-oranges comparisons between the iPad mini 7, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone SE 4, it sure looks like the latter can get an amazing price. That is, Apple can manufacture a much cheaper variant of the iPhone 16. We just have to wait for Apple to confirm it.