Apple’s eighth-generation iPad mini brings an OLED screen, the A20 Pro chip and water resistance to buyers of its small tablet. It is the first iPad outside the iPad Pro range to get OLED, and preorders are open.
The tablet starts at $699 with 128GB of storage. Apple unveiled it on October 26, opened preorders on Wednesday, October 28, and scheduled availability for Friday, November 6. The screen upgrade does not include ProMotion, while Face ID is also absent.
Read more: Samsung Begins Mass Producing OLED Panels for Apple’s iPad Mini 8 Launch in Late 2026
The Screen Has Its Limits
The new OLED panel takes the place of the previous mini’s LCD, but it does without the tandem OLED technology found in iPad Pro. Buyers have two color choices for the tablet itself: midnight and starlight.
The nano-texture treatment is an option only on models offering 256GB or 512GB of storage, restricting which configurations buyers can choose for glare reduction. Reviewers described the drop in color vibrancy as slight.
CNET said the nano-texture finish seems to soften the picture slightly, and that turning up the volume makes the tablet vibrate. The IP67 rating covers splashes and accidental immersion in fresh water, up to about 3 feet for 30 minutes.
New Speakers and Accessory Catches
Acoustic Display takes over from the exposed grilles previously used for the speakers. For low and middle frequencies, the woofers make the screen vibrate, while the tweeters occupy the gap separating the glass from the aluminum body.
Apple says the speaker changes deliver more volume, improve bass and make high frequencies clearer. The front camera has moved to the landscape edge.
The tablet supports Apple Pencil USB-C and Apple Pencil Pro, but older Apple Pencil versions cannot be used with it. Compared with the preceding model, stronger magnets hold the Pencil in place when attached to the tablet.
Pencil Pro and Smart Folio are separate purchases, and buyers do not have an official keyboard case to choose from. Gizmodo also recorded lower performance scores with the Smart Folio attached.
Fast charging is new, but it needs a charger rated at 35 watts or higher, and the one in the box does not qualify.
Extended display mode on an external monitor requires iPadOS 27.2.
