Thursday, 29 October 2026

Apple iPad mini gets OLED display and A20 Pro chip

Apple announced a new iPad mini on 26 October with its first OLED screen, an A20 Pro chip and prices from $699, shipping from 6 November.

Key points

  • The new iPad mini is the first in the line with an OLED display.
  • It uses the A20 Pro chip and starts at $699 in the US.
  • Pre-orders open on 28 October; deliveries begin on 6 November.

Apple announced a new iPad mini on 26 October, the first in the line to use an OLED display. It runs the A20 Pro chip and adds Wi-Fi 7, with pre-orders opening on 28 October and first deliveries on 6 November.

A brighter 8.5-inch OLED panel

Up front sits an 8.5-inch OLED panel that Apple brands Super Retina XDR, with bezels roughly 24% slimmer than on the old model. Apple says peak brightness reaches 1,200 nits, more than double the previous generation, and an optional nano-texture finish cuts glare. The resolution is 2,316 x 1,512 pixels at 60Hz, so there is no ProMotion.

Close-up of the Super Retina XDR OLED display on the iPad mini showing a gecko
The new OLED display on the iPad mini Image: Apple

Apple’s newsroom post has the full spec sheet. The tablet is 5.4mm thick and has an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance. It comes in Midnight and Starlight, and GSMArena puts the weight at 255g, against 297g for the 2024 model.

A20 Pro, speakers under the screen

The A20 Pro is built on a 2-nanometre process and has a six-core CPU that Apple says is up to 60% faster in multithreaded work, plus a 7-core GPU. Apple claims up to 4.5x faster AI performance and up to 2.7x faster graphics than the last mini. The 128GB and 256GB models use a binned chip with five CPU cores, according to the same listing.

Speakers now sit under the display in what Apple calls an Acoustic Display, with woofers and custom tweeters. The front camera is a 12-megapixel Center Stage unit on the landscape edge, and the back camera is a 12-megapixel wide sensor with 4K video at up to 60fps. Both Apple Pencil Pro and the USB-C Apple Pencil work with the tablet.

iPad mini showing a Procreate screen next to an Apple Pencil Pro
The iPad mini with Apple Pencil Pro Image: Apple

N1 for wireless, C2 for cellular

Apple’s new N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread. Cellular models add the C2 modem, which Apple says delivers up to 50% faster data speeds than the previous generation, and use eSIM. The tablet charges over USB-C, and Apple claims 50% in 30 minutes with a 35W or higher adapter, the site reports.

US prices only for now

In the US, the Wi-Fi version begins at $699 and the cellular version at $849. The full range, as the site lists it, is below.

Storage Wi-Fi Wi-Fi + cellular
128GB $699 $849
256GB $799 $949
512GB $999 $1,149

These are US prices. Pre-orders open on 28 October in 36 countries and regions, and the tablet reaches Apple Stores and authorised resellers on 6 November.

TPRO Team

The Tech Prolonged newsroom desk. Stories under this byline cover AI, the web and general tech, and are reviewed by our editors before publishing.