Apple unveiled its ‘new’ iPad Mini yesterday. It’s the most capable mini tablet from the Fruit Company since, well… the last one two years ago. It also doesn’t come as a surprise; Apple tends to follow the same launch schedule. That, and Mark Gurman spilt the beans earlier this month. He tends not to miss.
There was no grand pre-recorded stream or on-stage announcement. Just a press release on Apple’s Newsroom calling this the “biggest update ever”. Of course it would say that. It also helps that it’s somewhat true.
New innards, still Mini
The attention-grabbing bits of the update include a flashy new OLED display, courtesy of Samsung Display, and the updated A20 Pro chipset. The new display will appeal to anyone with functioning eyes, while the new chipset is geared towards folks with AI ambitions, or any heavy workflow, really.
The new OLED panel now measures 8.5in, a whopping 0.2in larger. For comparison, the iPhone Duo’s inner display measures 7.6in when opened. Apple reckons the new panel also delivers a higher contrast (duh, it’s OLED) and twice the peak brightness (up to 1,200 nits) of the last LCD-toting iPad Mini. You’ll also have the option to get your iPad Mini with Apple’s nano-texture coating if you plan on whipping out your Mini in bright environments — perfect if you’re an old lady in the park.
On the performance front, the A20 Pro, which debuted in the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max earlier this year, is meant to “significantly [boost] graphics and AI-intensive tasks.” It’s built on Apple’s 2nm process and houses a 7-core GPU with Neural Accelerators in each, and up to six CPU cores. This should deliver “up to 4.5x faster AI performance” over the last generation, and “up to 60 percent (sic) faster multithreaded performance,” or so says Apple. There are 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB memory configurations to pick from.
What else is new?
Apple has also paid some attention to the iPad Mini’s audio output. The “specially designed woofers” are “paired through the display to produce punchier bass and more volume.” Custom tweeters should produce “clearer highs”.
The 12MP ‘Center Stage’ front camera has moved to the landscape edge, while the rear 12MP wide-angle camera can shoot stills in Smart HDR or video in 4K 60fps. Connectivity is upgraded with Apple’s N1 and C2 chips, meaning Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and better cellular data speeds are expected. And it wouldn’t be a 2026 launch without the mention of Siri AI. It is available in beta with iPadOS 27.
In the US, the new iPad Mini starts at $700 (~R11,680) for the Wi-Fi model and $850 (~R14,180) for the cellular model. That’s going to be for the 128GB memory configuration. Need more storage? Be prepared to pay for it.
There’s no word on South African pricing just yet. Pre-orders open in the US tomorrow, 28 October, so we shouldn’t have to wait too much longer. If the previous iPad Mini pricing is anything to go by, you can expect to pay a lot more than those dollar amounts suggest.
In SA, the old one costs R12,300 for the 128GB Wi-Fi model on the low end and reaches R21,500 for the 512GB Wi-FI + Cellular model. We expect the new one to follow those prices or be slightly more expensive. Stay tuned for confirmation on the iPad Mini’s local pricing and Apple’s Pro and Tell event tomorrow.
