Apple's iPad mini OLED gets 8.5-inch screen and $699 price

Key takeaways

• Apple's new iPad mini moves from an 8.3-inch LCD to an 8.5-inch OLED display, with peak brightness of up to 1,200 nits.
• The tablet runs the 2-nanometre A20 Pro chip, is 5.4 mm thin and is the first iPad rated IP67 for water and dust.
• Prices start at $699 for Wi-Fi and $849 for Wi-Fi + Cellular, $200 above the previous model's $499 starting price.
• Pre-orders open Wednesday, 28 October; the device reaches customers and stores on Friday, 6 November.

Apple announced the iPad mini OLED on Monday, 26 October 2026, with an 8.5-inch OLED screen, the A20 Pro chip and IP67 water resistance. It starts at $699 in the United States, $200 above the previous model, according to Apple's press release.

What happened: Apple's new iPad mini with OLED display

Apple published the announcement as a newsroom press release titled "Apple gives iPad mini its biggest update ever". MacRumors' report on the launch was timestamped 6:05 a.m. Pacific time (13:05 UTC) on 26 October. The release came two days before Apple's "Pro and Tell" launch on 28 October, where Bloomberg had reported an OLED iPad mini would be part of the line-up.

The headline change is the screen. Apple describes an 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR OLED panel with per-pixel lighting, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 600 nits of full-screen brightness and up to 1,200 nits peak, which the company says is more than double the previous generation. Bezels are 24% thinner, so the larger display fits in roughly the same footprint. A nano-texture glass option is offered on the 256GB and 512GB models for an extra $100, according to MacRumors and 9to5Mac.

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."

iPad mini 2026 specs, price and release date

Data as of 26 October 2026, 13:30 UTC. Sources: Apple Newsroom, MacRumors, 9to5Mac. Previous-model figures are from Apple's 2024 specifications as reported by 9to5Mac and MacRumors.

Chip and performance

Apple says the A20 Pro is built on a 2-nanometre process and delivers up to 60% faster multithreaded CPU performance, up to 2.7 times faster graphics and up to 4.5 times faster AI performance than the previous iPad mini. MacRumors and 9to5Mac report that the 128GB and 256GB models use a 5-core CPU and a single 16-core Neural Engine, while the 512GB model gets a 6-core CPU and a dual 16-core Neural Engine. All versions have a 7-core GPU.

Design, cameras and connectivity

The tablet comes in midnight and starlight. Apple lists a 12MP Center Stage front camera moved to the landscape edge, a 12MP rear camera with 4K video at up to 60 fps, and an "Acoustic Display" audio system. Wireless runs on Apple's N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread; cellular models use Apple's C2 modem, which the company says is up to 50% faster than the previous generation. It supports Apple Pencil (USB-C) and Apple Pencil Pro, and ships with iPadOS 27.

What we know and what we don't know yet

• Known: prices, storage tiers, colours, the 28 October pre-order date and the 6 November availability date in 36 countries and regions, all confirmed by Apple.
• Known: pre-orders begin at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time (17:10 UTC) on 28 October, according to MacRumors.
• Not confirmed: the refresh rate. Apple's materials do not mention ProMotion or 120Hz, and 9to5Mac says the display appears to run at 60Hz.
• Not confirmed: independent tests of brightness, battery life and real-world performance, which will only come with reviews.

Background

The last iPad mini, launched in October 2024 with the A17 Pro chip, kept the LCD design introduced in 2021. Reports of an OLED iPad mini circulated for more than a year; Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported in July 2026 that the model could arrive by October. Our preview of Apple's 28 October Pro and Tell event covers the other products Bloomberg expects, including OLED MacBook Pro models.

The launch also follows Apple's foldable phone roll-out this month; see iPhone Duo stock and delivery dates. More coverage is collected on our iPad mini and Apple topic pages.

What it means

For buyers, the OLED iPad mini is a clear hardware step: a bigger, brighter screen, a newer chip and water resistance in a thinner body. The trade-off is price. At $699, the entry model costs $200 more than its predecessor did at launch; Bloomberg led its launch report with the new $699 price. Education pricing starts at $649, according to Apple.

For Apple, the update extends OLED beyond the iPad Pro to its smallest tablet. The open question for readers is the refresh rate: if it is confirmed at 60Hz, scrolling smoothness will lag behind the ProMotion iPad Pro despite the OLED panel. Reviews expected around the 6 November release should settle that and test Apple's brightness and performance claims.