The larger 8.5-inch OLED display, also available with a nano-texture option, delivers higher contrast and more than 2x higher peak brightness than the previous-generation iPad mini for a brilliant and immersive viewing experience. A20 Pro supercharges AI with Neural Accelerators in each GPU core and Dual 16-core Neural Engine. iPad mini now has a 12MP Center Stage front camera on the landscape edge that’s perfect for video calls, an innovative Acoustic Display for an even better audio experience, faster wireless and cellular connectivity, and fast-charge support. With its incredible set of advanced features, it’s the most capable and versatile iPad mini ever.
My two-year-old iPad mini is my most-used iPad. My two wishes have been for a faster chip and a thinner and lighter chassis. Apple has fulfilled both: 0.21 inches/5.4 mm thick (down from 0.25 inches/6.3 mm) and 0.56 pound/255 grams (down from 0.66 pound/293 grams), and it’s ever so slightly narrower at 5.22 inches/132.6 mm (down from 5.3 inches/134.8 mm). See Apple’s comparison chart.
The tradeoff is a significant leap in price: the new iPad mini starts at $700 versus $500 two years ago (and I bought mine at a discount). That entry price gets you 128GB of storage and a 5-core CPU. 256GB of storage is $800, while 512GB is $999 (which also bumps you up to a 6-core CPU).
Also new this year is a nano-texture glass option for an additional $100, but only on the 256GB and 512GB models—so really, a minimum $200 premium if all you wanted was nano-texture.
(I added a $50 Paperlike screen protector to my iPad mini, which offers some of the benefits of nano-texture glass. I also swapped my default Apple Pencil tips for $20 Paperlike Pencil Tips, which improves the writing feel substantially.)
Gone this year are any color choices beyond “dark” (Midnight, replacing Space Gray) and “light” (Starlight). So long, Blue and Purple.
I’m tempted by the OLED display and thinner and lighter frame, further sweetened by Apple’s trade-in offer of up to $340 on an iPad mini. I’ll wait until I get my hands on one to decide.
Preorders for iPad mini open on October 28 (at the unusual time of 10:10 am Pacific Time), and it will be available starting November 6.