Apple has given its smallest tablet a long-awaited display overhaul. The new iPad mini OLED is the headline change in a refresh that also brings a faster chip, a thinner chassis, and water resistance for the first time. Those upgrades arrive alongside a higher starting price and fewer color choices.
A brighter, thinner tablet
The move to OLED makes the iPad mini the second iPad with an OLED panel, joining the iPad Pro. Resolution is roughly unchanged, but peak HDR brightness reaches 1,200 nits. The previous model topped out at 500 nits for SDR content. The new panel also helps trim the body: the tablet measures 5.4mm thick and weighs 255 grams, compared with 6.3mm and 293 grams for the A17 Pro model. The screen itself grows slightly to 8.5 inches because the bezels are 24 percent thinner.
One thing has not changed: the refresh rate. The iPad mini OLED still runs at 60Hz, and the absence of ProMotion has drawn criticism online for a device priced at $700. In an interview with Christopher Lawley, Apple’s vice president of hardware engineering, Dave Pakula argued that the overall display experience matters more than any single specification, and that OLED’s faster pixel response helps motion feel smoother.
Performance and AI
At the center of the new iPad mini is a 5-core, 2nm A20 Pro chip. Apple claims graphics performance up to 2.7 times faster than the A17 Pro, and AI workloads up to 4.5 times faster. The 512GB model adds an extra CPU core and a dual 16-core Neural Engine. All models support Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, though the A20 Pro should handle demanding on-device AI tasks more comfortably. Apple does not publish memory figures, but the outgoing iPad mini had 8GB of RAM and the new model is likely to carry 12GB.
Battery life estimates are unchanged, but charging is quicker: with a compatible adapter, the tablet can reach 50 percent in 30 minutes. Storage options mirror the previous generation, and the new iPad mini runs iPadOS 27, which includes improved dictation and the ability to adjust Siri’s pace and expressiveness.
Design, audio, and connectivity
The new iPad mini is Apple’s first water-resistant iPad, earning an IP67 rating. Part of that design involves replacing traditional speaker grilles with an Acoustic Display system: tweeters sit between the glass and aluminum body, while woofers fire through the display. Apple says the result is punchier bass, clearer treble, and more volume.
Connectivity gets a boost as well, with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Apple’s new C2 cellular modem system, which the company says can deliver up to 50 percent faster cellular data speeds. Touch ID remains integrated into the power button. The front camera has moved to the tablet’s longer edge, a change that should suit landscape video calls. Apple Pencil Pro support is still included.
Price and color options
The improvements come at a cost. The new iPad mini starts at $699 for the 128GB model, $200 more than before. A 512GB configuration with cellular connectivity and nano-texture glass reaches $1,249. Color choices are now limited to Midnight and Starlight.
For buyers coming from an older iPad mini, the OLED screen and faster chip represent a substantial leap, particularly for HDR creative work and for games such as Control and Death Stranding that are now available natively on the App Store. The question is whether that leap justifies the higher entry price.
