We marked October 22 on the calendar and canceled our appointments. We were almost certain that Apple would hold its second fall keynote on that day and unveil new Macs and iPads. But then, just when we were expecting an invitation, Cupertino sent us instead a press release with details of the 7th-gen iPad mini… and nothing else.

Apple's smallest iPad has been around for years and it has its fans. The advantages of a smaller tablet include a lower price and easier portability. It can slide into big jacket pockets or small bags,

The most important thing about the new iPad mini is that, on the one hand, it’s a pretty minimal update. It got a better processor—the A17 Pro from last year’s Pro iPhones—and Apple supposedly fixed a display refresh problem that previously caused what is known as jellyscrolling,