iPad Mini (2026) Review: OLED and Waterproofing Can’t Hide the Price Problem

The iPad Mini (2026) is the most ambitious version of Apple’s smallest tablet yet, and that ambition comes at a cost. In this iPad Mini (2026) review, the central question is not whether the hardware impresses—it does—but whether a device this niche can justify a starting price of $699.

What Has Changed

Apple has overhauled nearly every part of the eighth-generation Mini. The 8.5-inch display is slightly larger than before, but the bigger shift is the move from IPS to OLED. This is an OLED Super Retina XDR panel, though it is not the tandem OLED found on the iPad Pro. It lacks ProMotion’s 120-Hz refresh rate and tops out at 600 nits in SDR and 1,200 nits in HDR—400 nits below the iPad Pro. Even so, brightness is comparable to the Mini-LED M6 MacBook Pro, which is impressive for an OLED this small.

The optional nano-texture glass, a $100 upgrade, is more than a matte coating. It is etched into the display itself, diffusing reflections without dimming the . Reading outdoors becomes notably easier, and the surface adds a paperlike crispness. The smaller screen also gives the Mini 19 percent higher pixel density than any other iPad, and the difference is visible.

At barely over half a pound, the tablet remains easy to hold in one hand. Apple has reduced the color options to two: Starlight and a new Midnight finish carried over from the MacBook Air. The Blue and Purple options are gone, as is Space Gray.

Waterproofing and a Redesigned Speaker System

The iPad Mini is the first iPad to carry an IP67 water-resistance rating, meaning it can survive submersion for 30 minutes in about three feet of water. To achieve that, Apple sealed the enclosure and removed the side speaker grilles. Tweeters now sit behind small slits at the edges of the display glass, while bass drivers are built into the display itself—a system Apple calls Acoustic Display.

Audio sounds fullest in portrait orientation, provided your fingers stay clear of the glass. Vibration is only noticeable at full volume. For video and occasional movies, the sound is adequate, though it cannot match larger devices like the iPad Air or MacBook Air.

Cameras, Security, and Work Features

The rear 12-megapixel camera is unchanged and remains best suited to document and QR-code scans. The front camera is still 12 megapixels but has moved to the side bezel, making video calls feel more natural in landscape. Face ID is still absent; Apple continues to reserve it for the iPad Pro, so the Mini relies on Touch ID in the power button.

Extended display mode lets the Mini connect to an external monitor without mirroring, and iPadOS now includes windowing and proper cursor support. Without a keyboard, those features are less useful, but the Mini’s size does make thumb typing feasible.

Memory and Performance

All storage configurations—128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB—come with 12 GB of unified memory, four more than the previous Mini and matching the iPad Air. Apple does not advertise this on its spec sheets, but the extra memory helps with heavier multitasking and on-device AI.

The A20 Pro chip is the same silicon used in the iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro models, with one caveat: only the 512-GB model gets the full six-core CPU and dual 16-core Neural Engines. The other configurations have one fewer CPU efficiency core and a single Neural Engine. In testing, the six-core version handled games like Oceanhorn 3, Fortnite, No Man’s Sky, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage smoothly at 60 frames per second, though textures and effects were reduced. Local AI in LM Studio is limited by the 12 GB of memory; the recommended Qwen 3.5 model had 4 billion parameters, which is fine for simple tasks but not impressive.

The Price and the Competition

The previous iPad Mini launched at $499 before price increases, which felt reasonable. At $699, the value proposition is harder to accept. A fully loaded Mini with the nano-texture display can reach $1,099—the same price as a MacBook Air. The Mini works remarkably well with the Apple Pencil, and it would be the iPad of choice for note-taking, but illustrators will likely want more screen space.

The iPad Air is $150 more expensive than the Mini despite lacking OLED, but it offers an 11-inch screen and support for the Magic Keyboard. The iPhone Duo, at $2,000, solves the Mini’s core problem—convenience—by fitting in a pocket. The Mini is less flexible and easier to leave at home.

For casual gaming, reading, and browsing, the iPad Mini is a dream device. The OLED screen, waterproofing, and extra memory add real quality-of-life improvements. But the higher price shrinks the audience that would once have bought one. A lower-cost model with 8 GB of memory might have preserved that core group, even if it went against Apple’s push for Siri AI. As it stands, the iPad Mini (2026) is excellent—and difficult to justify.