Apple’s Own Website Hints at the Impending iPad mini 8
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In another classic case of Apple tipping its own hand, the company has just quietly listed details on an unreleased iPad mini case on its website, effectively confirming the impending arrival of the much-rumored “iPad mini 8.”
This latest leak showed up on Apple’s French regulatory website last night. It was first reported by MacRumors, and it’s still there as of this writing. Technically, it’s not a reference to an actual iPad mini, but rather a Smart Folio case for the iPad mini, but it features a model number — A3632 — that doesn’t otherwise exist yet.
The filing is dated September 8, although there appears to be no historical record of the page appearing on Apple’s website prior to this week.
Since it’s for a case, the regulatory listing doesn’t provide any hints as to what the actual hardware specs of the new iPad mini will be. In fact, it doesn’t even offer any dimensions for the case. The very existence of a new accessory suggests the measurements of the new iPad mini could differ from the current model, but it could also simply be Apple changing up the materials or colors.
As 9to5Mac points out, the new case materials do have some differences from the Smart Folio for iPad mini, which was released for the redesigned 2021 iPad mini (6th generation), and hasn’t changed since.
According to Apple’s documentation, the new Smart Folio contains at least 3% recycled materials, compared with a minimum of 9% in the current model. It also contains at least 6,610 milligrams of rare earth elements, compared with 3,947 milligrams in the previous version, which could indicate changes to the magnets used to attach the cover to the iPad.
Marcus Mendes, 9to5Mac
Compared to Apple leaking the MacBook Neo name in March, this latest reveal is relatively benign. It’s pretty much a given at this point that Apple has a new iPad mini just around the corner. The current model has been on the market for two years, and reports of it being first in line for an OLED display go back to October 2025.
At this point, the consensus in the rumor mill is to expect a refreshed version of the smaller tablet with an OLED screen, an A20 Pro chip inside, and the front camera moved over to the long edge — a move that will finally match the rest of the iPad family.
Although the chip inside was up for debate until recently, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reporting a “major processor leap” in July without any specifics, he now seems pretty certain we’ll get the A20 Pro. That’s more or less the same chip used in the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Duo. Whether it will have the same number of cores is another question, though.
The iPad mini 6 used the A15 Bionic chip from the iPhone 13 Pro (not the standard iPhone 13, which had one less GPU core), but Apple also underclocked the CPU cores in the tablet. The current iPad mini was launched in 2024 with a year-old A17 Pro chip that was clearly a binned version of the one used in the iPhone 15 Pro, with only five GPU cores.
If Gurman’s info is accurate and the iPad mini 8 is getting the A20 Pro, that will put it back on the bleeding edge in terms of performance. That just leaves what we can expect from the OLED screen.
A persist rumor maintains that the iPad mini will skip the 120 Hz ProMotion display, settling for a 60 Hz display instead. That aligns with a roadmap that we saw in late 2023, but there’s no reason to believe Apple’s plans haven’t changed since then.
For years, Apple’s ProMotion displays have been exclusive to devices with the word “Pro” in the name — the iPhone Pro and iPad Pro. That changed last year when Apple finally brought the 120 Hz Always-On display to the iPhone 17, which now makes it a coin-toss whether it will do the same with the iPad mini. The budget iPhone 17e still retains a 60 Hz display, but that’s equivalent to the entry-level iPad.
The iPad mini is a mid-tier device, so it could go either way — and apparently even Mark Gurman isn’t sure which side of the fence it’s going to land on. In his new Power On podcast yesterday, Gurman said he’s been told that Apple has tested both the 60 Hz and 120 Hz displays for the iPad mini, but he doesn’t know which one it ultimately went with.
Reports of a 60 Hz display come from only a single source, a leaker known as yeux1122 (aka Lanzuk), who often shares leaks on South Korea’s Naver blog. They’ve posted this claim at least twice, several months apart. The information supposedly comes from within Apple’s supply chain where these iPad mini units are being produced — which gives it some credibility — but the leaker has a mixed track record, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, Gurman has predicted that the new iPad mini will be “considerably more expensive” than the current model (which already saw a hike to $599 in June). With the base price tag possibly hitting $799, that steep increase could bode well for a better display.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
