This tablet may be mini, but it has some big specs:

7.9-inch (diagonal), LED-backlit Retina True Tone display with 2048 × 1536 resolution (326 ppi)

A12 Bionic SoC with 64‑bit architecture and embedded M12 coprocessor

8 MP rear camera + 7 MP FaceTime HD camera

Wi‑Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) with dual channel (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and MIMO support + Bluetooth 5.0

19.1 Wh rechargeable lithium-polymer battery

Three-axis gyro + accelerometer + barometer + ambient light sensor

Spoiler alert: judging by the X-rays, it's not a downsized new iPad Air. It looks exactly like an upgraded iPad Mini 4.

The new Air, meanwhile, is based on the last-generation iPad Pro 10.5". (Stay tuned for our Air teardown, coming in about a day.)

Meanwhile, Apple also sells the iPad 6 (or just "iPad"), which itself is a reworked version of the original iPad Air.

We pull a cellular-capable iPad Mini 4 from the lab to confirm our suspicions. Headphone jack: check. Big bezels: check. Home button: check.

About the only exterior clue that gives away the new model is its model number, A2133—oh, and the loss of those regulatory markings on the back, which all live in software now.

As much as we wish Apple would come up with a better approach to tablet construction (like they've done for phones, or like others have done for tablets), we're pretty sure we know how opening this one is going to go:

Heat.

Slash.

Repeat.

Once the Mini is shucked, we get our first peek at the tasty internals.

After all that glue, we're treated to some less frustrating fasteners.

Knowing Apple's penchant for goofy screw heads, we brought our whole set of drivers. Thankfully this part of the Mini hasn't changed—we're just dealing with standard Phillips heads here.

Our drivers make short work of those screws and we remove the bracket covering the display and battery connectors ...

... and it brings along a friend! Turns out the battery flex connector is now adhered to that cover bracket, automatically disconnecting the battery when the bracket is removed. Nifty!

Notice the clean lines and muted colors in Apple's foray into abstract art. The second image is extra abstract thanks to X-rays.

Let's channel our inner art critic and try to spot some differences between the newest Mini and its predecessor:

Different battery model, with updated (i.e. incompatible) connectors

Rated for 19.32 Wh, it matches the last Mini's, has less than the standard iPad's 32.9 Wh, and comes in a little over the Galaxy Note9's 15.4 Wh.

Upgraded front-facing camera module

Updated ambient light (True Tone) sensors

A migrated set of microphones

Despite their similar hardware, iPads continue to lag way, way behind iPhones in their construction—this home button being a perfect example. On iPhones this is an easy, elegant swap, but here it's still a mess of glue, even after all this time.

Elsewhere on this display, we blast the shields off and smoke out the chips underneath:

Parade DP815 (likely a timing controller)

Texas Instruments TPS65195 level shifters

Texas Instruments TPS65144 LCD bias

24879 B834QL

This Mini inherits the 7 MP ƒ/2.2 front-facing camera setup we first saw in the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

With the cameras out of the way, we get a close look at the new upper microphone array, now centered near the selfie cam.

Next, the logic board comes free after a good struggle against the kragle underneath. (Why do iPads always feel like they're assembled by Lord Business?)

Let's see what kind of silicon Apple managed to squeeze in here:

Apple APL1W81 A12 Bionic SoC, layered over Samsung K3UH4H40AM-MGCL 3 GB LPDDR4X DRAM

Toshiba TSB3243VD1190CHNA1 64 GB flash memory

Apple/USI 339S00551 Bluetooth/WiFi module

Broadcom BCM15900 touchscreen controller

Apple 343S00282-A0 and 343S00286-A0 (likely PMIC's)

NXP 1612A1 USB charging controller

NXP 100VB27 NFC controller

With this iPad Mini in pieces, we'll conclude our teardown! What did we learn?

The iPad Mini continues to be (mostly) its own entity—not quite a shrunken down iPad, nor a miniature iPad Air.

After a number of conflicting experiences ultimately leading up to this Mini's glued-in battery, we're officially not optimistic anymore about seeing adhesive pull tabs for iPad batteries.

That said, it's time to give this iPad a repairability score!