Apple has announced the new iPad mini with an 8.5-inch OLED display, the A20 Pro chip and IP67 water and dust resistance. It starts at $699 in the US, and pre-orders open on Wednesday, October 28.
Apple describes it as the biggest update the iPad mini has ever received. Dave Pakula, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering, called it “a huge leap forward” for people who want the full iPad experience in a small tablet. The iPad mini reaches customers and Apple Store locations on Friday, November 6.
The OLED Display Grows to 8.5 Inches in a Body That Is 14 Percent Thinner
The footprint stays the same as the previous iPad mini. The screen gets bigger because the bezels are 24 percent thinner, and the Super Retina XDR panel uses OLED for deeper blacks and a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
Peak brightness reaches 1200 nits, more than 2x the previous generation, and the display holds 600 nits across the full screen. Minimum brightness drops to 1 nit for reading in the dark. A nano-texture glass option cuts glare, but only the 256GB and 512GB models offer it.
The body is 5.4 mm thin, 14 percent thinner and 13 percent lighter than before, and it comes in midnight and starlight. The IP67 rating covers immersion in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes under lab conditions.
A new Acoustic Display speaker system sends the woofers through the screen and hides custom tweeters between the glass and the aluminum. Its sealed enclosure also helps the iPad mini reach IP67. The speaker design and the 12MP Center Stage front camera on the landscape edge match what leaked in September.
The rear camera is a 12MP Wide sensor with 4K video at up to 60 fps. A new Adaptive True Tone flash helps with document scanning.
A20 Pro Delivers Up to 4.5x Faster AI Performance Than the Previous Generation
A20 Pro is built on a 2-nanometer process and has a 7-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core. Apple claims up to 2.7x faster graphics and up to 60 percent faster multithreaded CPU performance than the iPad mini with A17 Pro, and the CPU figure is based on the 6-core chip in the 512GB model. Memory bandwidth more than doubles.
The 512GB model also gets a Dual 16-core Neural Engine, which doubles peak compute for on-device AI. Fast charging reaches 50 percent in around 30 minutes with a compatible adapter.
The Apple-designed N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread to the iPad mini. Cellular models use the C2 modem for up to 50 percent faster data speeds than the previous generation.
The iPad mini ships with iPadOS 27 and Siri AI, which is still in beta. Siri AI can pull from your messages, emails and photos, act on what is on the screen and answer general questions. iPadOS 27.2 beta 1 also added a floating search bar for Siri AI on iPad.
Apple Intelligence adds Spatial Reframing, Extend and an upgraded Clean Up tool for editing photos after you take them. Image Playground now produces photorealistic images, and Notify Me in Safari watches a page for restocks or price drops. iPadOS 27 also brings a Liquid Glass slider in Settings that runs from ultraclear to fully tinted, and iPadOS 27.2 adds extended display mode for external displays.
The iPad Mini Starts at $699 and Pre-Orders Open October 28
The iPad mini comes in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB configurations in midnight and starlight. Apple lists these starting prices in the US.
- Wi-Fi model: $699, or $58.25 per month for 12 months
- Wi-Fi + Cellular model: $849, or $70.75 per month for 12 months
- Education pricing: from $649, or $54.08 per month for 12 months
- Apple Upgrade lease over 36 months: from $14.99 per month for Wi-Fi and $18.21 per month for Wi-Fi + Cellular
The new Smart Folio uses a two-panel design in TechWoven fabric, in navy blue and taupe, and costs $79. It follows a Smart Folio listing that surfaced before launch. The iPad mini works with Apple Pencil Pro at $129 and Apple Pencil (USB-C) at $79.
Apple Card Monthly Installments run at 0 percent APR with 3 percent Daily Cash back, and trade-in credit applies toward a new iPad. AppleCare+ covers accidents, theft and loss, battery replacement and priority support, and AppleCare One Family extends that coverage across a Family Sharing group.
The iPad mini is made with 35 percent recycled content, including a 100 percent recycled aluminum enclosure and 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery.
Pre-orders open at 10:10 a.m. PT on Wednesday, October 28, at apple.com and in the Apple Store app in 36 countries and regions.
1 comment