As Apple describes it, the iPad mini line represents a concentration of the larger iPad models before it and provides a physically smaller device but with a display that has the same number of pixels as the original iPad (1st Gen) or iPad 2 (but fewer pixels than the retina display-equipped iPad 3rd Gen or iPad 4th Gen).

All of the original iPad mini models (1st Gen) feature a 7.9 1024×768 (163 ppi) LED-backlit IPS touch-sensitive display, a dual core 1 GHz Apple A5 processor, 512 MB of RAM, 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of flash memory storage, dual cameras — a rear-mounted 5 megapixel iSight camera capable of shooting stills and 1080p video and a front-mounted 1.2 megapixel FaceTime HD camera capable of shooting stills and 720p video, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, stereo speakers, and more. Connectivity to computers, if desired, and power is provided by the Lightning port.

This specific iPad mini A1454 model also has support for A-GPS and GLONASS, GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA, and LTE bands 4 and 17. In the US, it first was intended to run on the AT&T network (and T-Mobile was added subsequently).

The battery life of this iPad mini model is reportedly 10 hours surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music and 9 hours surfing the web using cellular data.