As part of the code that Apple mistakenly leaked, it appears that Apple has been working on the next-generation iPad mini (codenamed J510/J511), and that device will feature the A19 Pro chip.
Based on current rumors, the A19 Pro chip is expected to make its debut in the iPhone 17 Pro. However, there will be two variants of that SoC (system on a chip) – a binned version with 5 GPU cores and a full-fledged version with one additional GPU core for a total of six. The iPhone 17 Pro will feature the full A19 Pro chip, and Apple is reserving that binned variant for its ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air.
If we take a look at the current iPad mini, that tablet features the A17 Pro chip, which debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro on September 2023; however, the ones on the iPhone 15 Pro were the full-fledged ones with 6 GPU cores. Instead, the ones on the iPad mini 7 are the binned variants with one less GPU core (total of 5). So given Apple’s strategy on repurposing binned chips on later-introduced iPad models, it seems more plausible that the next iPad mini will feature the binned A19 Pro chip.
In its earliest years, the iPad mini would get updated every year, but since 2015, that tablet receives hardware updates every few years. The iPad mini is rather a niche product overall, so it doesn’t have a consistent upgrade cycle compared to something like the Apple Watch and iPhone, both of which see yearly updates. This would make it harder to predict when the next iPad mini would come out. The iPad mini just got updated in October of last year, and it’s also been rumored that the next iPad mini could have the upgraded single-stacked OLED display as opposed to the tandem OLED technology to keep costs down and still differentiate it from the iPad Pro. Other rumors have suggested that the iPad Air could upgrade to OLED before the iPad mini, so if Apple were to launch the next iPad Air next year, the release for this iPad mini could either be later next year, or even get pushed into 2027.
