Apple iPad mini Apple iPad Mini 4 16gb Space Gray (Renewed) Review

The 16GB storage is a trap, and the software is fossilized. This is a museum piece, not a practical tablet. Only buy it if your budget is $125 and your only requirement is 'has an Apple logo on the back.'

Let's be real upfront: this is a nostalgia trip, not a modern tablet. The iPad Mini 4 is a 2015 device, and it feels every bit its age. The one thing you need to know is that 16GB of storage is a joke in 2025. That's in the 3rd percentile of all tablets in our database. You'll be deleting apps and photos constantly just to keep it running. It runs iPadOS 9, which means most new apps won't even install. But for $125, it's a cheap way to get a decent screen for reading or watching videos, as long as your expectations are rock bottom.

The performance is exactly what you'd expect from a decade-old A8 chip. Our benchmarks put its CPU in the 42nd percentile and GPU in the 44th, which means it's slower than most tablets you can buy today. It's fine for scrolling through a web page or reading a book, but try to open more than two apps and you'll feel the lag. The surprising part is the screen—it still looks pretty sharp for its age, landing in the 63rd percentile. It's the one part of this device that doesn't feel ancient.

At $125, the value proposition is simple: it's cheap. That's it. You're not getting good value for a tablet; you're getting a very low price for a very old piece of hardware. If your budget is absolutely locked at $150 and you just need a screen for YouTube and Kindle, it's an option. But spending even $50 more opens up much better used Android tablets.

Don't even look at the iPad Pro or Galaxy Tab S10. They're in a different universe. A more relevant comparison is against other budget tablets. For the same $125-$150, you could find a used Amazon Fire HD 10 or a Lenovo Tab M10 with more storage, a newer OS, and better battery life. They won't have the Apple logo or the same build quality, but they'll actually function as modern devices. The iPad Mini 4 wins on screen quality and portability but loses badly on everything else.

If you're looking for a tablet to actually use daily in 2025, this isn't it. Go get a used iPad Mini 5 or a new Amazon Fire tablet instead. If you need more than 3 apps installed at once, skip it. If you want to use any app released in the last 5 years, skip it.

We can't recommend this for almost anyone. The 16GB storage and ancient software are deal-breakers. It's only worth considering if you need the absolute smallest, lightest tablet possible for reading e-books and you refuse to spend over $150. For everyone else, save up a little more for a newer used iPad Mini (5th gen or later) or grab a modern budget Android tablet. This thing is a technological time capsule, and not in a good way.