Apple Revamps the iPad Mini With an OLED Screen and A20 Pro Chip
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Apple unveiled a redesigned iPad mini on Monday, giving its smallest tablet an 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, the A20 Pro chip and IP67 water resistance. The previous mini was released in 2024; Ars Technica reported that Apple claims this is the most significant update ever made to the iPad mini line.
The display grew from 8.3 inches to 8.5, with bezels 24 percent thinner and roughly the same overall footprint. Peak HDR brightness reaches 1,200 nits, more than twice that of the previous-generation device, and a nano-texture glass option is offered on the 256GB and 512GB models. The device is 5.4mm thick and weighs 255 grams in the Wi-Fi version. Apple redesigned the speakers into what it calls an Acoustic Display, with woofers coupled through the screen and tweeters hidden between the glass and aluminum.
The A20 Pro brings a large jump in graphics and on-device artificial intelligence, supporting Apple Intelligence and the Siri AI assistant. The tablet supports the Apple Pencil. Storage runs from 128GB to 512GB; the wide and front cameras are both 12MP, and the battery is rated for up to 10 hours of use. One configuration detail: only the 512GB version carries the 6-core CPU and dual 16-core Neural Engine, and the display again lacks ProMotion’s high refresh rate.
Pre-orders open Wednesday, October 28, with availability beginning November 6. The Wi-Fi model starts at $699 and the Wi-Fi and cellular model at $849 — a $200 jump from the starting price of the previous iPad mini. Mashable attributed the increase in part to higher memory costs across the industry.
The announcement came days before Apple’s “Pro and Tell” event scheduled for Wednesday. The new mini is slightly smaller than the last version despite its larger display, and comes in two colors.
Apple is expected to introduce further hardware at Wednesday’s event.