Apple on October 26 announced a new iPad mini with an 8.5-inch OLED display, its A20 Pro chip and an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, in a body 5.4 mm thick. Prices start at $699 for the Wi-Fi model, with pre-orders opening October 28 and availability from November 6.

The Wi-Fi + Cellular model starts at $849, and education pricing for the Wi-Fi model starts at $649. Pre-orders open in 36 countries and regions, including the U.S., according to the company’s press release.

Display and design

The Super Retina XDR OLED screen fills roughly the same footprint as before because the bezels are 24% thinner, Apple said. Its technical specifications list a resolution of 2316 by 1512 pixels at 326 pixels per inch. Peak brightness reaches up to 1,200 nits, which the company says is more than twice the previous generation, with 600 nits for full-screen SDR and HDR content and a minimum of 1 nit. Apple quotes a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and support for the P3 wide color range.

A nano-texture glass option, meant to cut glare in bright light, is available on the 256 GB and 512 GB models. The press release does not give a refresh rate, and the specifications page does not list one.

The Wi-Fi model weighs 255 grams and the cellular model 263 grams. The IP67 rating was tested under laboratory conditions to the IEC 60529 standard, at depths up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes, and Apple notes that resistance may decline with normal wear and that liquid damage is not covered by warranty. Colors are midnight, which is new, and starlight. Touch ID sits in the top button.

Chip and wireless

The A20 Pro is built on Apple’s 2-nanometer process. Compared with the previous-generation iPad mini, Apple claims up to 60% faster multithreaded processor performance from an up-to-six-core CPU, up to 2.7 times faster graphics from a seven-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core, and up to 4.5 times faster AI performance. The company also says unified memory bandwidth more than doubles. Apple ran its performance tests in September 2026.

Apple’s own N1 wireless chip adds Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread. Cellular models use Apple’s C2 modem, which the company says delivers up to 50% faster cellular data speeds than the previous generation.

Both cameras are 12 megapixels. The front camera sits on the landscape edge and supports Center Stage, and the rear camera records 4K video at up to 60 frames per second. Storage options are 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB.

The 18.9-watt-hour battery is rated for up to 10 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi or video playback, based on Apple’s September 2026 tests of preproduction units. A 20W adapter is included; with a 35W or higher USB-C adapter, sold separately, Apple says the tablet charges to 50% in around 30 minutes.

Accessories are sold separately: a new Smart Folio in navy blue or taupe for $79, the Apple Pencil Pro for $129 and the Apple Pencil (USB-C) for $79.

Dave Pakula, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering, said in the release that “iPad mini is beloved for its fantastic portability, performance, and display by a wide range of users,” naming groups that include creators, small business owners, doctors, field service workers and gamers.

Why it matters

Apple calls this the biggest update the iPad mini has had, and its release presents the OLED display, the IP67 rating and the N1 and C2 chips as the headline changes. The release names doctors and field service workers among the tablet’s users; for that kind of work, Apple is pairing the water and dust rating with a brighter screen and an optional nano-texture finish that it says reduces glare in bright environments.

The tablet runs iPadOS 27. Apple says Siri AI is available in beta in iPadOS 27.2 in English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, but that it is not currently available in the European Union.

The caveats

All performance comparisons are Apple’s own and are made against the previous-generation iPad mini, without published benchmark scores. Battery and charging figures come from Apple’s tests on preproduction hardware, and actual results vary with settings and use. The release gives starting prices only; it does not list the price of each storage tier or of the nano-texture option.

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