Hardware · Apple
What AI models can the Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro) run?
- RAM
- 8.0 GB
- Storage
- 128 GB – 512 GB
- One app can use
- 4.4 GB
- Memory bandwidth
- 51 GB/s
- FP16 compute
- 1.8 TFLOPS
- Released
- 2024
Every iPad mini (A17 Pro) has 8 GB of RAM, whatever its storage (128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB). A model runs in RAM (the 8.0 GB here), not in storage. Storage (128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB on this version) only keeps the downloaded files, and even the smallest size has room for several. iPadOS lets one app hold only part of the RAM before it closes the app, so we plan around 4.4 GB; a model bigger than that won’t run. Phone apps such as PocketPal AI download a model once, then run it with no connection.
More about this hardware
| Maker | Apple |
|---|---|
| Type | Tablet (system on a chip) |
| App share of memory | 55% (what one app can typically hold before the system closes it) |
| Chip | Apple A17 Pro |
| RAM type | 8 GB LPDDR5 (teardown) |
| Versions sold | mini (A17 Pro): 8 GB RAM with 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB |
| Bandwidth figure | 51.2 GB/s, from teardowns (the maker publishes no memory speed) |
| Note | A17 Pro with a 5-core GPU; 8 GB LPDDR5-6400 (51.2 GB/s). |
| Maker’s specifications | www.apple.com |
Apps that run models well on the Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro)
iOS
Best LLMs for the Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro)
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64Good quality (B) · 64 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Nemotron Labs Dory 1.0 4B | Q4_K_M | 3.5 GB | 16.2 tok/s | Runs well |
| 58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 78/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Gemma 4 E2B | Q4_K_M | 3.8 GB | 28.1 tok/s | Runs welltight fit |
| 62Good quality (B) · 62 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 77/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Spark-X2.6 4B | Q4_K_M | 3.4 GB | 15.7 tok/s | Runs well |
| 57Good quality (B) · 57 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | MiniCPM5 2B | Q4_K_M | 2.5 GB | 25.6 tok/s | Runs well |
| 57Good quality (B) · 57 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | TMax 4B | Q4_K_M | 3.4 GB | 15.3 tok/s | Runs well |
| 58Good quality (B) · 58 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Qwen3.5 4B | Q4_K_M | 3.7 GB | 13.9 tok/s | Runs well |
| 57Good quality (B) · 57 of 100: how capable the model is at Q3_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 75/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Nanbeige4.2 3B | Q3_K_M | 4.1 GB | 20.0 tok/s | Runs welltight fit |
| 57Good quality (B) · 57 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 74/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Agents-A1 4B | Q4_K_M | 3.6 GB | 14.2 tok/s | Runs well |
| 42Fair quality (C) · 42 of 100: how capable the model is at Q5_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 74/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Unlimited OCR 2 (3B-A0.6B) | Q5_K_M | 3.5 GB | 67.8 tok/s | Runs great |
| 55Good quality (B) · 55 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 73/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Fara 1.5 4B | Q4_K_M | 3.6 GB | 14.2 tok/s | Runs well |
| 42Fair quality (C) · 42 of 100: how capable the model is at Q2_K, whatever it runs on. Match score 72/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Ling 3.0 Tiny (8B-A1.3B) | Q2_K | 4.0 GB | 65.0 tok/s | Runs welltight fit |
| 53Fair quality (C) · 53 of 100: how capable the model is at Q4_K_M, whatever it runs on. Match score 72/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | LFM3 1.7B | Q4_K_M | 1.8 GB | 37.3 tok/s | Runs great |
Best Image models for the Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro)
| Quality | Model | Quant | Memory | Speed | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39Basic quality (D) · 39 of 100: how capable the model is at FP8, whatever it runs on. Match score 70/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | SDXL Turbo | FP8 | 4.2 GB | 4.5 s | Runs welltight fit |
| 30Basic quality (D) · 30 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 68/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | LCM DreamShaper v7 | FP16 | 2.8 GB | 8.4 s | Runs great |
| 28Basic quality (D) · 28 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 67/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | SD Turbo | FP16 | 3.3 GB | 2.7 s | Runs great |
| 42Fair quality (C) · 42 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 66/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | Realistic Vision V5.1 | FP16 | 2.8 GB | 40 s | Slow |
| 40Fair quality (C) · 40 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 65/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | DreamShaper 8 | FP16 | 2.8 GB | 40 s | Slow |
| 50Fair quality (C) · 50 of 100: how capable the model is at FP16, whatever it runs on. Match score 64/100 (quality, fit, speed and memory use) sets the ranking. | PixArt-Σ XL 1024 | FP16 | 3.3 GB | 53 s | Slowencoder unloaded after use |
Best Video models for the Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro)
None of the video models in our catalog fit in this much memory.
Best Decision models for the Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro)
None of the decision models in our catalog fit in this much memory.
Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.