New iPad mini goes OLED with A20 Pro, and starts $200 higher

Apple announced a new iPad mini on October 26 and calls it the biggest update ever for its smallest tablet: an 8.5-inch OLED screen, the A20 Pro chip and IP67 water resistance, in a body just 5.4 mm thin.

It also costs more. The Wi-Fi model starts at $699, $200 more than the 2024 iPad mini at launch. Pre-orders open on October 28 in 36 countries and regions, and the tablet arrives from November 6.

What Apple changed

• Screen: 8.5-inch OLED (Super Retina XDR) instead of an 8.3-inch LCD, in the same footprint thanks to 24% thinner bezels. 2316 x 1512 pixels at 326 ppi, 600 nits full screen, up to 1,200 nits peak for HDR (500 nits before), and a 1-nit minimum. Nano-texture glass is an option on the 256 GB and 512 GB models.
• Chip: A20 Pro, built on a 2 nm process. Apple claims up to 4.5x faster AI and up to 2.7x faster graphics than the previous mini.
• Body: 5.4 mm, 255 g for the Wi-Fi model, IP67 (1 m for up to 30 minutes), in midnight or starlight.
• The rest: the 12 MP front camera moves to the landscape edge, the speakers now work through the display (Apple calls it Acoustic Display), Apple's N1 chip adds Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and cellular models get Apple's C2 modem, which Apple says is up to 50% faster than the previous mini's cellular data.

Lighter, but pricier

The new mini is 0.9 mm thinner (6.3 mm before) and 38 g lighter.

The cellular model goes from $649 to $849. With education pricing, the new mini starts at $649.

Two details from Apple's spec sheet matter before you pay more:

• The 128 GB and 256 GB models have a 5-core CPU, one core fewer than the 6-core A17 Pro in the previous mini. Apple's "up to 60% faster" multithreaded CPU figure is for the 6-core version, which only comes with 512 GB of storage.
• Fast charging (up to 50% in about 30 minutes) needs a USB-C adapter of 35 W or more, sold separately; the box has a 20 W adapter. The battery is slightly smaller (18.9 Wh vs 19.3 Wh), and Apple still quotes up to 10 hours of web browsing or video.

Software and availability

The tablet runs iPadOS 27 with Siri AI in beta. Siri AI works in French but not in Arabic, and isn't available in the EU for now. Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C) both work with it, and a new Smart Folio costs $79.

Apple doesn't sell online or through its own stores in Algeria, so the new mini will only arrive through importers, and there's no local price yet.

You can check the full specs of the previous iPad mini (A17 Pro) on Nestphones.

Are an OLED screen and a lighter body worth $200 more to you, or does the 2024 mini still make more sense?