iPad mini 8 teardown reveals Apple may have had room for a bigger battery
Apple’s latest iPad mini appears to have a smaller battery than its predecessor, but a new teardown suggests the reduction may not have been caused by a lack of internal space.
The eighth-generation iPad mini, powered by the A20 Pro chip, has been opened up in a teardown video shared by Chinese creator Gua Ge Shuo Shouji. The teardown reveals an interesting detail inside the compact tablet: an unused section of the chassis located just below the battery.
That discovery is notable because the new iPad mini carries a lower battery capacity than the previous model. Apple lists the battery at 18.9 Wh, while the iPad mini 7 used a 19.3 Wh battery. The battery inside the new model is identified as a Huizhou Desay Battery S2503 cell, rated at 3.855 V and 4,900 mAh, matching Apple’s official battery information.
This makes the new iPad mini’s battery the smallest used in the lineup for many generations. The iPad mini 7 had a 5,034 mAh battery, while the iPad mini 4 and iPad mini 5 were both rated at 19.1 Wh. Despite the drop in capacity, Apple still advertises up to 10 hours of web browsing or video playback, the same runtime rating given to the previous iPad mini.
The most surprising part of the teardown is the empty space between the bottom of the battery and the USB-C flex cable, near the lower speaker area. According to the teardown, relocating the speaker could have allowed Apple to install a larger battery with several hundred extra mAh of capacity.
Based on the visible measurements from the teardown, the unused area appears to be around 48 mm by 13 mm. If that space had been used for more battery material at a similar energy density, it could have added roughly 1.3 Wh, or about 340 mAh. That would have pushed the total capacity close to 20.2 Wh.
Even using only part of that area may have been enough to match or exceed the iPad mini 7’s 19.3 Wh capacity. However, there are some limitations to consider. The teardown does not fully confirm whether the empty section has the same internal depth as the battery compartment. A larger battery may also have required a different shape, such as an L-shaped cell, or a redesign of the speaker layout.
The iPad mini 8 starts at $699 in the United States for the 128 GB Wi-Fi model. It features a 60 Hz OLED display, and the 128 GB and 256 GB versions use a 5-core A20 Pro chip.
For buyers, the key takeaway is simple: the new iPad mini still promises the same battery life rating as before, but the teardown raises questions about why Apple chose a smaller battery when there appears to be unused space inside the chassis. For a compact tablet where every extra minute of battery life matters, that design decision is likely to spark plenty of discussion among iPad fans.
