Apple's all-new iPad mini goes on sale this week and, from a distance, it appears that not much has changed. It still features an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display, you get the same palm-sized aluminium design and it's powered by Apple's popular iPadOS software. It all feels very familiar but don't be fooled by its looks as there's plenty going on behind the scenes that makes this a pretty mighty update to Apple's popular mini tablet.

This new device is now powered by the more impressive A17 Pro chip which not only boosts the overall power and efficiency but also makes sure it can cope with the demands of Apple Intelligence

This smart upgrade will land in the UK later this year and it's set to change how we use our devices, including the iPad mini for good.

"We are super excited,"Apple's Kurt Knight, Senior Director, Platform Product Marketing at Apple told Express.co.uk.

"We're bringing the groundbreaking features of an Apple Intelligence to the new iPad mini powered by the A17 Pro chip.

"We have writing tools, where users can refine their words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarising text. Memories can be turned into movies just by typing a description. There's a new cleanup tool in photos so that users can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo.

"Siri becomes even more integrated. It's more natural, it's more contextually relevant.

"These are just a sample of some of the features that we're able to do by integrating hardware and software together."

With all of the world's biggest tech giants - such as Google, Samsung, Meta and Lenovo - racing to offer more and more AI in their products, Apple Intelligence is clearly an important update from Apple.

However, one thing that the US firm has always been so good at is keeping things simple and user-friendly. Some might be concerned that Apple Intelligence is a step too far especially for those scared by the current AI buzzword.

READ MORE: iPad mini 2024 review: Apple's mighty little tablet is now built for the future

But Apple says its smart technology isn't designed to be intrusive with it there to offer help when it's most needed.

"There's nothing intimidating about having a system that can spell check or autocorrect for you. And now when you have a writing tool that can help proofread your text, it's no more intimidating," Knight explianed.

"Similarly, if you're in photos and you're trying to find an image of something, search just works magically. Now I can say 'Give me that picture of Maya, wearing the pink dress and dancing'. And you can narrow it down to the set of photos of Maya wearing a pink dress and dancing. And you don't have to say or know that it's Apple Intelligence behind the scenes.

"We try to make features that are so intuitive and so approachable, I think users won't even think about the fact that they're using 'AI'.

"Things now work in just profoundly powerful ways."

Of course, the thought of 'AI' rummaging around in private photos or reading personal emails might have some thinking they'd rather live without it but Apple is making big noises about privacy and user safety.

The firm says that many of the tasks performed by Apple Intelligence will happen on the device so no data is transferred or beamed across the web.

When more heavy lifting is needed, Apple has introduced something called 'Private Cloud Compute.' This clever system takes snippets of information needed for the task which are sent to secure Apple servers. As soon as the job is finished, that data is instantly deleted with no private or sensitive data ever stored away from devices.

"Privacy is the value that is extremely important to Apple and it was extremely important to us when we designed Apple Intelligence that it maintained and, in this case, actually excelled on what we're doing for privacy," Knight told us.

"We've really innovated in two different places. The first is with on-device processing and the other is in the cloud with Private Cloud Computes.

"We're able to do all of the same things with that same privacy promise, and we think that is really a breakthrough for privacy and AI."

The new iPad isn't just about Apple Intelligence with it also getting full compatibility with the Apple Pencil Pro.

This more advanced stylus offers features such as switching settings via simple squeezes and .

It may seem odd that the 'Pro' Apple Pencil works on a non-Pro iPad but Apple is confident it's the right decision.

"The things our developers are adopting in their applications, just allow you to take that Pencil experience to another level.

"Because of the performance of the iPad mini, apps like Procreate are incredibly popular as are apps that architects or someone doing design could use. And so those people are prolific users of Apple Pencil and we feel like it's important to allow them to use the most capable Apple pencil."

The launch of this new mini tablet shows that its popularity clearly isn't subsiding and that might seem odd. Apple no longer makes the mini iPhone and its latest Pro smartphones have actually got even bigger displays. Larger MacBooks remain popular and even the Apple Watch has just had a spec bump to expand its screen. So why do people still have a love affair with the iPad mini?

"I think its secret is taking an aspect of iPad that people already choose it for and already love about it - that's the portability - and taking it even further," Boger told us.

"Pilots like love it in the cockpit, it fits right in the lab coats of doctors so they can just pull it out as they're making their rounds.

"It's great for students taking classes and just having with you all the time, it's just so versatile. It just fits into so many places and fits into people's lives."

With the boost to its performance and power along with the introduction of Apple Intelligence, it appears the iPad mini is here to stay.

It now joins Apple's other big updates this year which include the new super slim iPad Pros and more powerful iPad Air.

"When you take the new iPad mini and you add it to the iPad Pro and the iPad that we released a few months ago - coupled with the entry iPad - and you look at the lineup as it is with the addition of Apple Pencil Pro and now Apple Intelligence, it really is the strongest lineup of iPads that we've ever had," said Boger

"We're just extremely excited and happy to bring these products to our customers and we can't wait for people to get the new mini to their hands as well."