It has a nearly identical design to its predecessor, the first-generation iPad Mini, but features internal revisions such as the use of an A7 system-on-a-chip and a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution Retina Display.

[14] The iPad mini can act as a hotspot with some carriers, sharing its Internet connection over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB, and also access the Apple App Store, a digital application distribution platform for iOS.

The service allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with Xcode and the iOS SDK and were published through Apple.

[18] The second-generation iPad Mini has an optional iBooks application, which displays books and other ePub-format content downloaded from the iBookstore.

[24] The audio playback of the second-generation iPad Mini is in stereo with two speakers located on either side of the lightning connector.

Apple sells a "camera connection kit" with an SD card reader, but it can only be used to transfer photos and videos.

[24] All second-generation iPad Mini models can connect to a wireless LAN and offer dual band Wi-Fi support.

Apple's ability to handle many different bands in one device allowed it to offer, for the first time, a single iPad variant which supports all the cellular bands and technologies deployed by all the major North American wireless providers at the time of the device's introduction.

[26] On his website, AnandTech, Anand Lal Shimpi highly compliments the design and increased speed of the second-generation iPad Mini while lamenting the limited color palette, stating "...it's a shame that this is a tradeoff that exists between the two iPads especially given how good Apple is about sRGB coverage in nearly all of its other displays.

"[27] Despite some criticisms, such as the quality of the camera, Jeffrey Van Camp of Digital Trends gave the second-generation iPad Mini a score of 4.5 out of 5.

With a powerful 64-bit A7 processor and a high-resolution ‘Retina’ screen, it finishes the job that Apple started with the first iPad Mini.