You’re looking at the iPad mini 6 and wondering if it’s still worth it. I get it. We live in an era where mid-range Android phones ship with 12GB of RAM, and Apple is aggressively pushing 8GB as the new baseline for "Apple Intelligence" on the iPad Pro and Air. Seeing that the iPad mini 6 only has 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM feels like a gut punch. It sounds low. It sounds like something from 2018.
But here is the thing: RAM on an iPad doesn't work like RAM on a PC.
iPadOS is aggressive. It kills background tasks with a ruthless efficiency that would make a drill sergeant blush. When you’re using the iPad mini 6, you aren't really feeling the 4GB limit in the way you’d expect. You feel it in the "reload." You know that slight pause when you switch back to Safari and the page refreshes? That is the 4GB ceiling hitting you. It’s not a performance lag; it’s a memory management dance.
The Reality of 4GB in the iPad Mini 6
Apple chose the A15 Bionic chip for this tablet. It’s a beast. Even years later, that silicon shreds through video editing in LumaFusion or heavy layers in Procreate. However, the iPad mini 6 RAM is the leash on that beast. While the CPU can handle 4K streams, the 4GB of memory dictates how many of those "mental plates" the device can spin at once.
If you’re a heavy multitasker, you’ll notice that Slide Over and Split View work fine, but if you try to keep a high-resolution game like Genshin Impact open while bouncing between Discord and a dozen Chrome tabs, something is going to give. Usually, it’s the browser tabs. They’ll purge from the memory to keep the game running. It’s a trade-off. Apple prioritizes the active foreground app above all else.
Interestingly, the iPad mini 6 actually has more RAM than the base model iPad (9th and 10th gen), which only carry 3GB. That extra gigabyte is exactly why the mini feels "pro-lite" rather than just a budget tablet. It’s enough to keep the UI buttery smooth at 60Hz, even if it can’t compete with the M-series chips that have 8GB or 16GB.
Memory Pressure and Procreate Layers
Artists care about RAM more than almost anyone else. In Procreate, your canvas size and DPI are directly restricted by available memory. On an iPad mini 6, if you’re working on a standard 4K canvas at 300 DPI, you’re looking at roughly 20 to 25 layers.
Compare that to an M2 iPad Pro with 8GB of RAM, where you might get 90+ layers.
That is a massive delta. If you’re a professional illustrator who builds complex, non-destructive workflows with hundreds of adjustments, the 4GB of iPad mini 6 RAM will eventually feel like a cage. You'll find yourself merging layers constantly. It’s annoying. But for sketching, note-taking in GoodNotes, or doing social media graphics in Canva? You won't even notice.
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Why the Apple Intelligence Cutoff Matters
We have to talk about the elephant in the room: Apple Intelligence.
In 2024, Apple announced that their new suite of AI features requires an M1 chip or later. The primary reason? RAM. These Large Language Models (LLMs) need to stay resident in the system memory to respond instantly. Apple determined that 8GB is the floor for a "good" AI experience.
Because the iPad mini 6 only has 4GB, it is officially excluded from the AI revolution.
This is the biggest argument against the device right now. You won't get the fancy new Siri, the system-wide writing tools, or the Clean Up feature in Photos. If you’re buying a tablet to be a long-term companion for the next five years, knowing that it’s already hit a software ceiling because of its memory capacity is a bitter pill. It's basically the "cut-off" point for Apple's modern ecosystem.
Gaming and Thermal Throttling
I’ve spent a lot of time playing Resident Evil Village and Death Stranding on various Apple devices. On the iPad mini 6, the gaming experience is... surprising. The A15 is powerful enough to run these, but the 4GB of RAM means the system has zero overhead.
When the RAM is full, the system starts swapping data to the NAND storage (the SSD). This generates heat. Because the mini 6 is so small, it doesn't dissipate heat as well as an 11-inch Air. So, you get this double-whammy: the RAM is struggling to hold game assets, the SSD is working overtime to help, and the chip throttles to keep from melting.
The result? You might see some frame drops after 30 minutes of intense play. It’s not unplayable—far from it—but it’s a reminder that this is a portable device, not a workstation.
The "Jelly Scrolling" and Display Connection
Wait, what does RAM have to do with the screen? Directly? Nothing. Indirectly? Everything.
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The iPad mini 6 has been criticized for "jelly scrolling," where one side of the screen refreshes slightly faster than the other in portrait mode. Some people thought it was a processor lag or a memory issue. It isn't. It’s a hardware controller layout reality.
However, users often conflate this visual quirk with "slow RAM." It’s important to distinguish the two. The iPad mini 6 RAM isn't "slow." It’s LPDDR4X, which is plenty fast for the A15's memory controller. The "smoothness" of the tablet is more about the 60Hz refresh rate than the memory speed. If you’re coming from a 120Hz ProMotion display, the mini will feel "laggy" even if the RAM is completely empty.
Real World Use: A Day in the Life
Let’s look at a realistic scenario.
- You have 5 Safari tabs open.
- You’re listening to a podcast on Spotify in the background.
- You’re taking notes in Apple Notes with the Pencil.
- You pop open a quick reply for a text message.
In this flow, the 4GB of RAM is totally fine. You won't see a single stutter. The A15 handles the logic, and the 4GB holds the data comfortably.
Now, change that:
- 20 Safari tabs.
- Editing a 4K video in LumaFusion.
- Trying to "Picture in Picture" a YouTube video.
Now you’ll start to see apps "refresh." You switch from LumaFusion to Safari to check a fact, and when you go back to LumaFusion, the app has to reload the project. That is the 4GB wall. It’s not a crash; it’s just a reset.
Looking at the Competition
In the small tablet space, the competition is weird. You have the Lenovo Legion Tab (Y700), which packs up to 16GB of RAM. On paper, it destroys the iPad. It handles background apps like a dream.
But Android’s memory management is different. Android needs more RAM because the apps aren't as tightly optimized for specific hardware. An iPad with 4GB of RAM often feels snappier and more consistent than an Android tablet with 8GB. Apple controls the vertical stack—silicon, OS, and the App Store APIs. They force developers to be lean.
That said, 4GB in 2026 is objectively lean. It’s the bare minimum for a premium experience.
Is it still worth buying?
Honestly, it depends on your ego. If you need to know you have the "best" specs, the iPad mini 6 RAM will haunt you. You'll constantly look for stutters that aren't there.
But if you want the best "couch device" or "reading device" ever made, it’s still the king. The form factor is perfect. The A15 is still faster than most Chromebooks and mid-range laptops.
The lack of Apple Intelligence is the only real "dealbreaker" for some. If you don't care about AI-generated emojis or Siri actually being useful for once, the 4GB limitation is mostly invisible for 90% of what people actually do on a 8.3-inch screen. You aren't going to be running CAD software or compiling massive codebases on this thing anyway. It’s for comics, emails, games, and videos. For those, 4GB is—honestly—just enough.
Navigating the 4GB Limit
If you already own an iPad mini 6 or are dead-set on buying one, there are ways to make that 4GB feel like 8GB. It sounds like tech-voodoo, but it’s just about understanding how iPadOS handles tasks.
First, stop force-closing apps. I see people do this all the time, thinking it "frees up" RAM. It actually does the opposite in the long run. When you force-close an app, the system has to use more CPU cycles and power to reload it from the storage next time. Let the OS manage the 4GB. It’s better at it than you are.
Second, be mindful of browser extensions. If you use Safari, every extension you have active—ad blockers, honey, dark mode toggles—eats into that precious memory pool. If you notice your tabs refreshing too often, trim your extensions.
Third, watch your storage. iPadOS uses "Virtual Memory Swap" (in some capacities) where it uses free space on your iPad as temporary RAM. If your 64GB iPad mini is 99% full, the system has no room to breathe. Keeping at least 10-15GB of storage free can actually make the device feel faster because it gives the RAM a "safety net."
Summary of the Specs
The tech specs of the iPad mini 6 RAM are straightforward but tell only half the story.
- Capacity: 4GB
- Type: LPDDR4X
- Bandwidth: Sufficient for the A15 Bionic's 16-core Neural Engine
- Main Limitation: No support for Apple Intelligence (requires 8GB+)
- Multitasking: Supports Split View and Slide Over, but not Stage Manager (requires M-series and more RAM)
If you are a power user, you will hit the ceiling. If you are a normal human who wants a tablet that fits in a jacket pocket, you'll probably never notice the "low" RAM.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your usage: If you currently own an iPad, go to Settings > General > iPad Storage. If you are constantly "offloading apps," you are a heavy user who might find the 4GB limit frustrating.
- Prioritize Storage: If you buy the iPad mini 6, get the 256GB version. Since the RAM is low, having plenty of fast storage for the system to use as "swap" memory is a massive benefit.
- Consider the "AI Gap": Before purchasing, ask yourself if you care about the 2024/2025 Apple Intelligence features. If you do, skip the mini 6 and wait for the inevitable mini 7 or move to the M2 iPad Air.
- Test Procreate: If you're an artist, go to a store and try to create a 300 DPI canvas at A4 size. See if the layer limit works for your style. Don't guess; the RAM limit is a hard wall in that specific app.
- Optimize Safari: Disable unnecessary background refresh for apps that don't need it (Settings > General > Background App Refresh). This keeps those 4GB focused on what you are actually looking at.