New iPad mini 2026: OLED, A20 Pro, $699 Price, Release

Apple has given its smallest tablet a major upgrade. On Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, the company announced a new iPad mini with an 8.5-inch OLED display, the A20 Pro chip and, for the first time, an IP67 water and dust resistance rating, in what Apple's press release calls the iPad mini's "biggest update ever." It starts at $699. "iPad mini" passed 20,000 U.S. searches on Google Trends after the announcement, and TechCrunch's report on it appeared in Google News' U.S. feed.

What we know

The new model, which Ars Technica calls the 8th-generation iPad mini, keeps roughly the same footprint as the 2024 model but fits a larger screen thanks to 24% thinner bezels. It is 5.4 mm thin and comes in midnight and starlight.

Sources: Apple; Ars Technica.

"With a remarkably thinner and lighter design, a stunning new OLED display, the incredibly powerful A20 Pro, and water and dust resistance, the new iPad mini is a huge leap forward," said Dave Pakula, Apple's vice president of hardware engineering.

The iPad mini's OLED display

The headline change is the move from LCD to OLED. Apple says the Super Retina XDR display offers pixel-level lighting control for deeper blacks, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 600 nits of full-screen brightness for SDR and HDR, up to 1,200 nits peak and a 1-nit minimum for dark rooms. That peak figure is more than double the previous model's 500 nits, Ars Technica noted. A nano-texture glass option, previously offered on iPad Pro, reduces glare; Ars reports it is a $100 option on the 256GB and 512GB models only.

A20 Pro performance

The 2-nanometer A20 Pro, first used in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo, replaces the A17 Pro. Apple claims, compared with the previous iPad mini:

• Up to 4.5x faster AI performance, using Neural Accelerators in each of the 7 GPU cores.
• Up to 2.7x faster graphics, with hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing.
• Up to 60% faster multithreaded CPU performance, with up to a 6-core CPU.
• More than 2x the unified memory bandwidth.

There is a catch: only the 512GB model gets the Dual 16-core Neural Engine. Ars Technica reports the 128GB and 256GB versions have a single 16-core Neural Engine and a 5-core CPU instead of 6.

Other upgrades

• Acoustic Display: woofers paired through the display for more bass and volume, plus tweeters hidden between the glass and enclosure.
• Cameras: a 12MP Center Stage front camera moved to the landscape edge for video calls, and a 12MP back camera with 4K video at up to 60 fps and a new flash.
• Connectivity: Apple's N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, and the C2 modem in cellular models, which Apple says is up to 50% faster than the previous generation.
• Software: iPadOS 27 with Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, which Apple says is rolling out in beta.
• Accessories: support for Apple Pencil Pro ($129) and Apple Pencil (USB-C) ($79), and a new $79 TechWoven Smart Folio.

Price and release date

Apple's U.S. pricing:

• Wi-Fi, 128GB: $699 (or $58.25 a month for 12 months with Apple Card Monthly Installments)
• Wi-Fi + Cellular, 128GB: $849
• 256GB: $100 more; 512GB: $300 more, per Ars Technica
• Education pricing: from $649

Preorders open Wednesday, Oct. 28, in 36 countries and regions including the U.S., and the iPad mini arrives Nov. 6 in stores and to customers, Apple said.

The new price continues a climb. The 7th-generation iPad mini launched at $499 in 2024 and has since risen to $599, Ars Technica noted, so the new model costs $100 more than its predecessor's recent price.

Water resistance, explained

Apple says the iPad mini was tested under controlled laboratory conditions to IP67 under IEC standard 60529, at a maximum depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. Apple's fine print notes that resistance is not permanent and can decrease with normal wear, that you should not charge a wet iPad, and that liquid damage is not covered under warranty.

Software and the environment

With iPadOS 27.2, the iPad mini also supports extended display mode with an external monitor, Apple said. Siri AI is in beta, is limited to certain languages and is not currently available in the EU on iPadOS, according to Apple's footnotes. Apple says the tablet is made with 35% recycled content overall, including 100% recycled aluminum in the enclosure and 100% recycled cobalt in the battery.

For buyers who prefer not to pay up front, Apple Upgrade leasing starts at $14.99 a month over 36 months for the Wi-Fi model, and trade-in credit is available.

Should you upgrade?

If you own the 2024 iPad mini, the biggest everyday differences are the OLED screen's brightness and contrast, water resistance and faster graphics. Whether that's worth $699 comes down to how often you'd actually use them. If you want the full AI hardware, note that only the 512GB model gets the dual Neural Engine.

What's next

1. Preorders on Oct. 28. Ars Technica reports they start at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time.
2. Reviews. Expect hands-on reviews before the Nov. 6 release.
3. More Apple news. Apple's foldable launch has hit a snag; read about the iPhone Duo broken screen reports. For AI news, see our explainer on OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Terra.

OLED, the A20 Pro and an IP67 rating make this a real upgrade. The catch is the price: it's $100 more than the model it replaces, and the cheaper storage tiers don't get the full AI hardware.