Apple’s new iPad mini gets a bunch of upgrades, but they come at a cost.
Apple doesn’t update its iPad mini every year, which is why each new generation usually gets a huge performance boost. The new iPad mini is powered by the 5-core, 2nm A20 Pro SoC, which Apple says is up to 2.7 times faster in graphics performance and up to 4.5 times faster in AI workloads than the A17 Pro in its predecessor. It comes in the same three storage configurations as last time, and the 512GB model features an extra CPU core and a dual 16-core Neural Engine.
While both models support Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, the A20 Pro should be more suited to demanding on-device AI tasks. The outgoing iPad mini offered 8GB of RAM, and while Apple doesn’t officially list how much memory its phones and tablets have, the new iPad mini likely has 12GB of RAM. Battery life claims haven’t changed, but the new iPad mini charges faster (capable of hitting 50 percent in 30 minutes) with a compatible adapter.
Unfortunately, color options have been reduced to just Midnight and Starlight. The price has also increased: the new iPad mini costs $200 more, starting at $699 for the 128GB model. If spec’d with cellular connectivity and a nano-texture glass finish, the 512GB iPad mini will set you back a whopping $1,249 — that’s iPad Pro money. We’ll let you decide if it’s worth it; for now, let’s look at the changes Apple has made to its compact tablet offering this year.
The iPad mini is finally OLED
The big iPad mini upgrade this time is the OLED panel. That makes it the only other iPad in Apple’s lineup with an OLED display aside from the iPad Pro. It’s roughly the same resolution as last time, but can get much brighter at up to 1,200 nits of peak HDR brightness. OLED also brings other benefits: the new iPad mini is the same height and nearly the same width, but is thinner at 5.4mm and lighter at 255 grams — likely thanks to the thinner OLED panel. In comparison, the A17 Pro iPad mini maxes out at 500 nits of SDR brightness, weighs 293 grams and is almost an entire millimeter thicker at 6.3mm.
The new iPad mini also features a slightly larger 8.5-inch display, owing to the bezels that are now 24 percent thinner. The only major letdown is the lack of ProMotion. Plenty of users on X have understandably expressed disappointment about Apple sticking with a 60Hz display on a $700 product in 2026. However, in an interview with Christopher Lawley, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering, Dave Pakula, said that the “display experience is about more than just a single spec” and that OLED’s faster pixel response time “makes everything really smooth.”
If you’re coming from an older iPad mini, the display on the new one will be a huge upgrade, especially for creative workflows involving HDR content. Apple Pencil Pro support is still present, too, making the new iPad mini a compact, color-accurate canvas for artists and designers.
A handful of other changes
Despite its nearly identical design, the new iPad mini is Apple’s first water-resistant iPad. One of the ways it has achieved an IP67 rating is by replacing the speaker grilles with its new Acoustic Display system. This involves tweeters placed between the glass and aluminum body, with woofers firing through the display. The result, apparently, is punchier bass, clearer treble and more volume. It’s similar to the Huawei P30 Pro’s acoustic display, though that particular setup was largely designed to replace the earpiece speaker for phone calls rather than deliver a full stereo speaker experience like the iPad mini.
Connectivity upgrades are also present, including Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Apple’s new C2 cellular modem system, which it claims should deliver up to 50 percent faster cellular data speeds. Authentication is still handled by the Touch ID-enabled power button, and while the iPad mini’s optics seem largely unchanged, the front-facing camera is now positioned along the tablet’s longer edge, making it better suited for video calls in landscape orientation.
The new iPad mini runs iPadOS 27 and supports Apple’s most powerful on-device AI model with improved dictation and the option to adjust Siri’s pace and expressiveness. While only the 512GB variant gets the extra CPU and Neural Engine cores, the 5-core A20 Pro SoC in the lower-end storage variants still delivers a substantial performance boost over the A17 Pro. With so many good AAA titles like Control and Death Stranding now available natively on the App Store, the new iPad mini is shaping up to be a portable powerhouse for gamers.
