New iPad mini goes OLED and survives a dunk, but costs $699

The new iPad mini is the biggest redesign of Apple’s smallest tablet in years, with a new screen, chip, speakers and sealed body. Apple revealed it two days before its “Pro and Tell” event in Los Angeles on October 28, so it got its own spotlight rather than sharing the stage with new Macs.

The headline changes, compared with the 2024 iPad mini:

• Screen: 8.5-inch OLED instead of an 8.3-inch LCD, in the same overall footprint thanks to bezels that are 24% thinner.
• Body: 5.4mm thick instead of 6.3mm, and 255 grams instead of 293 grams for the Wi-Fi model.
• Chip: A20 Pro, the processor that first appeared in the iPhone 18 Pro, replacing the A17 Pro.
• Protection: IP67 dust and water resistance, which no iPad mini has had before.
• Front camera: a 12MP Center Stage camera moved to the long edge, so you’re centered on video calls when you hold it sideways.
• Connectivity: Apple’s own N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, plus the C2 modem on cellular models.

A few smaller upgrades matter more in daily use than they sound. The tablet can now reach a 50% charge in 30 minutes if you plug it into a 35W charger or a stronger one. When connected to a monitor, it can now extend the desktop with separate windows instead of just mirroring the screen. Battery life is rated at up to 10 hours of video or web browsing on Wi-Fi.

The new iPad mini screen is much brighter and has far deeper blacks than before, but it still refreshes at 60Hz. OLED lights each pixel on its own, so dark areas are truly black instead of glowing gray, which you’ll notice in movies, games and reading in bed.

Apple’s numbers: up to 1,200 nits of peak brightness, double the 600-nit maximum of the old model, and 600 nits for full-screen SDR and HDR content, up from 500. It can also dim down to 1 nit, which is handy for late-night reading. For the first time on a mini, you can order a nano-texture glass finish that cuts glare outdoors, though only on the 256GB and 512GB models.

The missing piece is ProMotion, Apple’s name for a smoother 120Hz refresh rate that makes scrolling look silkier. Apple is still keeping that for the iPad Pro. If you’ve used a recent high-end phone, the mini’s scrolling will feel a step behind.

Only the 512GB iPad mini gets the full A20 Pro chip. The 128GB and 256GB versions use a cut-down version, sometimes called a “binned” chip, with five CPU cores instead of six and a single 16-core Neural Engine instead of the Dual 16-core Neural Engine in the top model.

That matters because Apple’s big performance claims, including up to 4.5 times faster AI performance, up to 2.7 times faster graphics and up to 60% faster multitasking, describe the best case. The trimmed version will still be far quicker than the A17 Pro it replaces for games, photo editing and apps, since every model gets the same 7-core graphics processor. But if you plan to run AI models on the device, which Apple is now pitching for this tablet, the 512GB version is the one built for it.

Every model also runs iPadOS 27. Apple’s new Siri AI arrives as a beta in iPadOS 27.2, and Apple says it isn’t available in the EU on iPad for now. UK and Canadian buyers aren’t affected by that restriction.

The new iPad mini plays sound through its display, a setup Apple calls an Acoustic Display. Small woofers push bass through the screen itself, while tweeters for the high notes sit hidden between the glass and the aluminum shell.

That isn’t just a party trick. Getting rid of traditional speaker holes is part of how Apple sealed the body well enough to earn the IP67 rating, which makes this the first iPad with that level of water protection. In practice, it means a spilled drink or a rainy commute is no longer a disaster. It isn’t a license to go swimming with it, though, and water damage generally isn’t covered by a standard warranty.

What hasn’t changed: there’s still no Face ID. You unlock it with Touch ID, and it works with both the Apple Pencil Pro and the Apple Pencil (USB-C).

The new iPad mini starts at $699 in the US for the 128GB Wi-Fi model. Here’s how the pricing breaks down:

• US: $699 (128GB), $799 (256GB), $849 for the cheapest cellular model, and $649 with education pricing.
• UK: £699 for the 128GB Wi-Fi model and £799 for 256GB.
• Canada: $949 for the 128GB model.
• Fully loaded: a maxed-out configuration reaches $1,249, Bloomberg reported.
• Case: the new TechWoven Smart Folio costs $79, up from $59 for the old cover.

This is the second price rise for the mini in a single year. Apple already lifted the old model from $499 to $599 earlier in 2026, blaming memory and chip shortages, and base storage stays at 128GB this time. On the plus side, rumors earlier this month had pointed to a $200 jump, so the final number came in lower than feared. Color choice has also shrunk from four to two: Midnight and Starlight.

For most people, the new iPad mini is a real upgrade worth considering, but who should buy depends on what you own now.

• You have a 2021 mini or older: this is the upgrade you’ve been waiting for. The brighter OLED screen, water resistance and faster charging add up to a very different tablet.
• You have the 2024 mini: it’s a nice jump, not an essential one. Unless you read outdoors a lot, need water resistance or want local AI tools, your current one still has years left.
• You want the best performance: skip the 128GB model and budget for the 512GB version to get the full chip.
• You want 120Hz scrolling or Face ID: neither is here. You’ll need to look at the iPad Pro.

If you’re on the fence, waiting a few days costs nothing. Apple is expected to announce more products this week, including a new iMac and a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M6 chip, plus a first touchscreen MacBook Pro, Bloomberg reported. None of those are confirmed yet.