Mark Gurman from Bloomberg has a report on some of the key Apple products we could be seeing in the coming weeks, and Gurman expects the long-awaited refresh of the iPad mini to come out “by the end of October.”
As you may know, the iPad mini was last updated back in October 2024 with the A17 Pro chip that powers Apple Intelligence alongside support for Apple Pencil Pro. However, it was a relatively underwhelming spec bump with the same design as before. Thankfully, Apple is bringing big changes to its tiny tablet.
We’ve expected the iPad mini to feature a brand-new redesign. This could mean a thinner design that would be similar to the current iPad Pros. Along with the redesign, it’s also reported that Apple is working on making the iPad mini even more water-resistant by using a vibration-based speaker system, which means no visible speaker holes for water to get into. Of course, no update would be complete without a chip upgrade, and Gurman expects the next iPad mini to feature the A20 Pro chip, which will be the first to be built on the 2nm process.
But the biggest update has to be the transition to OLED displays, and we know the benefits of that: improved color accuracy, brightness levels, and contrast ratios. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the starting price of the iPad mini would get higher, as OLED displays are generally more expensive to produce than traditional LCD displays. For example, the iPhone 12 (6.1-inch) saw a price increase when it adopted OLED displays, and even the iPad Pro (M4) received a higher starting price when it moved to tandem OLED displays.
Still, I think the next iPad mini will definitely be worth waiting for, especially for those who love the compact form factor.
