The OLED iPad mini Arrives With an ‘Acoustic Display’ and A20 Pro
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Apple is kicking off its rumored end-of-October product announcements today, and unsurprisingly, it’s leading with the much-anticipated OLED iPad mini.
Announced via a press release this morning, the latest installment in Apple’s smallest tablet is getting a healthy screen upgrade — in more ways than one. Not only has it gained the OLED display we’ve been hearing so much about, but it also grows to 8.5 inches from the 8.3 inches of the prior model, boasting Apple’s Super Retina XDR display — the first time this designation has been used for an iPad.
By contrast, the iPad Pro — the only other Apple tablet with OLED — features an Ultra Retina XDR display, thanks to its dual-stacked tandem OLED technology. Super Retina XDR is the designation Apple gives to its OLED iPhone models — starting with the iPhone 11 Pro and expanding to every full-lineup model from the iPhone 12 through this year’s iPhone 17e, iPhone 18 Pro, and even both screens on the iPhone Duo.
However, as you may have already noted from the variety of screens on those models, the moniker has nothing to do with refresh rate. The iPhone 12 and the iPhone 18 Pro both use a Super Retina XDR display, but one is a basic, fixed-rate 60 Hz screen while the other features a variable refresh rate from 1 Hz to 120 Hz and sports Apple’s Always-On display technology.
The same is sadly true for the new iPad mini. It looks like the rumors of a basic 60 Hz display were accurate. While Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman had heard that Apple tested both 60 Hz and 120 Hz displays, even he wasn’t sure which direction Apple was going in, whereas a supply chain report had consistently maintained that it was the 60 Hz version.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the display isn’t getting a substantial upgrade. OLED itself is a huge leap, and Apple also notes that it provides peak brightness of up to 1,200 nits, which is more than double the previous model. It also has the ability to drop to a single nit for use in dim environments.
Beyond OLED, the display has an interesting trick hidden up its sleeve in what Apple calls “Acoustic Display” technology:
Specially designed woofers are paired through the display to produce punchier bass and more volume. In addition, custom tweeters are now hidden between the glass and aluminum enclosure for clearer highs.
This use of the display to effectively act as a speaker has also allowed the iPad mini to achieve an IP67 rating, making it the first water-resistant iPad that Apple has ever released.
Apple’s official name for its newest tablet gives away its other big upgrade: the iPad mini (A20 Pro) packs in the same chip used in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo, although it does so with an interesting catch. Only the A20 Pro in the 512 GB model offers the same specs as its iPhone counterpart — a 7-core GPU, 6-core CPU, and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine. The 128 GB and 256 GB models appear to use a “binned” chip with a 5-core CPU that drops one of the efficiency cores (giving it three instead of four) and a single 16-core Neural Engine.
The other noticeable change is that the iPad mini finally joins the rest of the family in moving the front 12 MP Center Stage camera to the landscape edge. There was always some debate as to whether the smaller tablet would follow suit, as it’s not necessarily used in landscape mode as often as its larger cousins, but it’s nice to see some consistency here.
The rear camera remains capped at 12 MP, with identical specs to the previous model, although Apple has added an Adaptive True Tone flash that should both improve photos and help with document scanning.
Finally, the iPad mini is getting Apple’s latest N1 wireless and C2 modem chips, which means support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread, plus more efficient cellular data connectivity. However, unlike this year’s iPhone models, which also now pack in the C2 chip, the iPad mini won’t be getting mmWave 5G support — just the same sub-6 GHz found in C1-equipped devices and those sold outside of the US.
Sadly, Apple is also bumping the price again — although the good news is it’s not as stark as some feared. The iPad mini now starts at $699 for the 128 GB Wi-Fi model, with the Wi-Fi + Cellular configuration adding $150 to that, as before. It’s also dropped the more colorful options, with the finishes now limited to the two neutrals: midnight and starlight.
The 256 GB model starts at $799, while the 512 GB model — which offers the full-power A20 Pro chip — runs from $999 for Wi-Fi to $1,149 for Wi-Fi + Cellular. Both the 256 GB and 512 GB models offer the option to upgrade to a nano-texture glass display for $100 more.
The iPad mini (A20 Pro) will be available for preorder on Wednesday, October 28, and is expected to land in retail stores on Friday, November 6.
