The iPad mini is back, and Apple is arguing that the pint-sized tablet deserves your attention now more than ever. The new iPad mini has a slightly larger 8.5-inch display (up from 8.3-inch) and is now packing a load of small tweaks alongside the headlining switch from an LCD to OLED display. The new iPad mini is also water- and dust-resistant with an IP67 rating and available in a nano-texture display option (on the 256GB and 512GB versions) for the very first time. The upgrades may make it the perfect companion device for your Apple-centric lifestyle with a screen that can—finally—compete more with your iPhone.
The new iPad mini is powered by an A20 Pro chip with a 6-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, and up to a dual 16-core Neural Engine (only available on the 512GB storage model)—the same as the latest iPhone 18 Pro. That’s going to represent a big upgrade from the last version, which used an A17 Pro chip, especially if you’re keen on efficiency. In addition, Apple moved the front-facing 12-megapixel “Center Stage” camera from the portrait to the landscape side of the tablet, matching the orientation on the rest of its iPad lineup.
Apple has also changed the speakers. Instead of firing out of grilles positioned on the sides, the new iPad mini uses an “Acoustic Display” that hides “custom tweeters” between the “glass and aluminum enclosure” for “punchier bass and more volume” and “clearer highs,” according to Apple. We’ll have to hear for ourselves how good it sounds without the traditional speaker grilles.
Other notable changes include a thinner profile: 5.4mm versus 6.3mm on the last-gen model. The tablet also uses Apple’s own C2 modem and N1 wireless chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread. Apple also repositioned the magnetic “pogo” connector for connecting to magnetic accessories from the bottom of the tablet to the long side to align with the device in landscape orientation. Despite moving the front camera to the landscape side, there’s no official mini-sized Magic Keyboard. You can still connect a separate wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to it, though.
The new iPad mini starts with 128GB of storage and tops out at 512GB. The A20 Pro chip guarantees it has at least 12GB of RAM to run Apple Intelligence features and Siri AI. Just don’t expect any excessively pretty color options. You have a choice between the gold-silver “Starlight” and dark gray “Midnight” tones.
And don’t worry: the new iPad mini still supports an Apple Pencil, both the Apple Pencil USB-C and Apple Pencil Pro.
The 2024 A17 Pro iPad mini seemed to be the black sheep of Apple’s tablet lineup, especially when the latest iPad Airs and Pros, with their M-series chips, ran laps around the slate with the smallest, slowest screen. With OLED, the eighth-generation iPad mini can claim better contrast and deeper black levels than its previous iterations. It’s not a dull screen, either, hitting a supposed 600 nits of typical full-screen brightness and 1,200 nits peak in HDR content. However, it doesn’t have the tandem OLED qualities of the current-gen M5 iPad Pros, which boasts higher brightness with multiple layers of organic light-emitting diodes. The new iPad mini also doesn’t have “ProMotion,” which means it may be stuck with a 60Hz refresh rate and not the buttery smooth 120Hz found on other Apple devices.
Apple has already upgraded all regular iPhones, like the iPhone 17, to 120Hz, and the iPad mini’s non-ProMotion screen may be a disappointment to some. The iPhone Duo features a 7.6-inch inner display with a 120Hz “ProMotion” refresh rate. The $2,000 phone with split-screen options may seem like a ludicrous expense compared to the new iPad mini, which starts at $699 for the Wi-Fi version and $849 for the Wi-Fi and cellular model. In addition, the models with nano-texture displays will cost $100. The iPad mini will be available on Nov. 6, with pre-orders starting on Oct. 28.
Apple is not concerned about the iPhone Duo cannibalizing iPad mini sales. At the foldable iPhone’s launch event at the Apple Fifth Ave store, Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, told Gizmodo Senior Editor of Consumer Tech Raymond Wong that “we don’t concern ourselves with cannibalization.”
“As long as somebody buys the right Apple product for them, that’s okay with us. Some of us it’s gonna be the [iPad] mini, some is gonna be the Duo, [some people] will want the [iPhone] Pro or Pro Max. That’s okay. They found the right product for them; that’s fine with us.”
I asked @gregjoz if Apple is concerned that the iPhone Duo might cannibalize iPad mini sales. Here's what the SVP of worldwide marketing at Apple said: pic.twitter.com/VE0wlcneZ7
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) October 23, 2026
Still, the 8.5-inch iPad may seem like a less dramatic iteration than Apple’s first entry into folding devices.
Raymond Wong contributed to this report.
