Apple's supercharged iPad Mini is just a big, glorified iPhone

• Apple unveiled a new iPad Mini on Tuesday.
• It's a glorified iPhone.
• The device clocks in at 8.3 inches, just a tad bigger than the iPhone 13 Pro Max's 6.7 inches.

Apple unveiled a new iPad Mini - and it's basically just a giant iPhone.

The company held its annual September iPhone event Tuesday, and among the cluster of product announcements was a supercharged iPad Mini. Priced at $499, it's Apple's "littlest iPad" - CEO Tim Cook said during the virtual event - and its 8.3-inch screen is only slightly bigger than the $1,099 iPhone 13 Pro Max and its 6.7 inches.

The device could fit comfortably in someone's hand, not unlike the iPhone Pro Max, and it gives the company's smartphone lineup a run for its money, given its array of bells and whistles.

It also comes with a speaker system that emits sound from both sides of the device in landscape mode. That's a feature that doesn't even come with the iPhone yet.

The new iPad Mini also has snazzier camera details, like ultra-wide lenses and Center Stage, the company's feature that tracks and refocuses the camera on you as you're moving during a video chat.

This new Mini will be the first iPad Mini to conform to industry standards and ditch its Lightning port for a USB-C, which would make it easier to transfer data. It also comes with the same proprietary chip used in the iPhone 13 lineup, and its home button is no longer situated on the front of the iPad Mini - it's housed on the top.

And lastly, the new Mini is compatible with Apple's second-generation Pencil, which attaches magnetically to the side of it.

The design updates to the iPad were the star of Tuesday's iPhone event. The changes made to this new iPhone 13 lineup were minor, such as a smaller notch - which was expected - and a bigger battery.