The iPad mini now has an OLED screen, a 2nm chip and water resistance. It also costs $200 more than it did at the start of 2026.
Apple announced the redesigned tablet on October 26 and calls it the iPad mini’s “biggest update ever.” It went on sale on November 6, starting at $699 in the US, according to MacRumors.
The previous iPad mini launched at $499 in 2024. Apple raised that price to $599 in June, so the new model marks the second iPad mini price increase this year.
What Changed
The screen grows from 8.3 to 8.5 inches and switches to OLED. Apple says it offers higher contrast and more than twice the peak brightness of the previous model.
The main upgrades:
- Display: 8.5-inch OLED, up to 600 nits for standard content and 1,200 nits for HDR. A nano-texture anti-glare option costs $100 extra on 256GB and 512GB models;
- Chip: A20 Pro, built on a 2nm process. Apple claims up to 60% faster CPU and 4.5 times faster AI performance than the A17 Pro in the old model;
- Design: 5.4mm thick and about 15% thinner and lighter than before;
- Durability: IP67 water and dust resistance, a first for the iPad mini;
- Audio: speakers now play through the display, so the case has no speaker holes;
- Charging: 50% in 30 minutes with a 35W or higher adapter;
- Camera: the 12MP front camera moves to the landscape edge for video calls.
The chip varies by storage. The 128GB and 256GB models get a 5-core CPU, while the 512GB model gets 6 cores, MacRumors reported. Colors are limited to Midnight and Starlight.
Reviewers Like It, With One Complaint
Early reviews are mostly positive. Gizmodo’s Kyle Barr gave the tablet 4 out of 5. In his benchmarks, its graphics performance beat the larger M4 iPad Air by around 15%. If he could pick only one iPad from Apple’s lineup, he wrote, “I’d go for this tiny one every time.”
The most common complaint is the refresh rate. The display is limited to 60Hz, while Apple keeps its 120Hz ProMotion feature for the iPad Pro. Gizmodo listed it as the tablet’s first drawback.
Apple has defended the choice. In an interview with YouTuber Christopher Lawley, Apple’s vice president of hardware design, David Pakula, said OLED pixels respond far faster than LCD pixels, which cuts motion blur. “Display experience is about more than just a single spec,” he said, as quoted by MacRumors.
Reviewers found smaller trade-offs too. The battery shrank from 19.3Wh to 18.9Wh, though Gizmodo still got a full day of browsing and video. Benchmark scores also dropped when Apple’s Smart Folio case covered the back of the tablet.
The price gap between Apple’s mid-range tablets has nearly closed. The base iPad mini now costs $50 less than the base M4 iPad Air. Apple has not said whether ProMotion will come to a future iPad mini.