The iPad mini was last updated almost six months ago; however, it was mainly an incremental hardware update as the small tablet featured just the A17 Pro chip, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. Even the display remains unchanged as it still features an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina Display, or LCD display, but that may change as soon as next year.
As reported last year, Apple is planning to put OLED displays on its future iPad mini, and today, Weibo-based account Digital Chat Station reported that Apple was exploring such displays from Samsung. If everything will go as planned, this next iPad mini could start mass production as soon as the second half of 2025, and Apple will update both the iPad mini and iPad Air with OLED displays sometime in 2026.
On the contrary, Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) claimed that Apple planned to bring OLED to the iPad mini next year, and the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air will follow suit in 2027. With other conflicting rumors in mind, we should know that Apple doesn’t update the iPad mini and iPad Air at the same time since 2019. Still, it’s possible that OLED displays could come on the iPad mini before the iPad Air, as Apple brought several new features to the iPad mini and later the iPad Air before. Examples include:
- 12MP Center Stage Camera on iPad mini 6 (Sept. 2021) and M1 iPad Air (Mar. 2022)
- hardware-accelerated ray-tracing on iPad mini 7 (Oct. 2024) and M3 iPad Air (Mar. 2025)
However, don’t get your hopes too high as those OLED displays may not be as spectacular as the ones found on the latest iPad Pro. Those displays are tandem OLED displays that feature dual-stacked low-temperature polycrystalline oxide panels for super-high brightness levels and better longevity and higher refresh rates (ProMotion) at up to 120Hz. To keep costs low on both the iPad mini and Air, it’s possible that Apple may compromise on the OLED displays using low-temperature polycrystalline silicon panels, which are dimmer and may lack ProMotion.
This update is going to be worth waiting for, especially for those with a much older iPad mini and prefer that form factor/size.
