Apple's pitching its all-new iPad Mini as the perfect tablet for cinephiles
A bigger, brighter OLED display and an in-screen sound system headline the upgrades
by Lewis Empson · What Hi-Fi?
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Fresh off the back of its Apple TV 4K 4th Generation and HomePod Mini 2 double whammy announcement last week, Apple has unveiled its latest home cinema in a hand, the new iPad Mini.
The new iPad Mini comes with a whole host of new picture and sound upgrades that are sure to have on-the-go cinephiles salivating.
The iPad Mini 2026 is the first model outside of the Pro series to feature an OLED display, with Apple's Super Retina XDR technology on board for sharper visuals and richer colours.
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The Mini also gets less mini with a new 8.7-inch display (up from 8.3 inches on the previous generation), although the size of the tablet actually stays the same thanks to Apple shrinking the bezels by an impressive 24 per cent.
According to Apple, the display can go as low as one nit and reach a peak brightness of 1200 nits – that's twice the brightness of the previous model – and it sports a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
Apple is also offering its Nano Texture display coating, which can be found on the iPad Pro, and more recently the iPhone Duo, for reduced display glare. You'll need to spring for the pricier 256GB or 512GB configurations to add that option, though, as the 128GB model is only available with a glossy display finish.
The Californian tech giant hasn't confirmed if the Mini is sporting the same brightness-boosting Tandem OLED technology as the Pro, but we do know that ProMotion (Apple's high refresh rate technology) is, unfortunately, not on board.
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This means that the new iPad Mini is stuck with a 60Hz refresh rate. Thankfully, it retains support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG.
While the display upgrade is monumental, what's under it is arguably even more impressive. Apple has introduced an all-new Acoustic Display speaker system on the iPad Mini. This features specially-designed under-display woofers that are "paired through the display" to produce "punchier bass and more volume".
Custom tweeters, which are hidden beneath the display, for crisper and clearer high frequencies, are also onboard. Dolby Atmos support is also sticking around, both via supported headphones and through the Acoustic Display system.
This is a first for an iPad, and we can't think of any other tablets to use this type of sound system. Our nearest frame of reference is Sony's actuator-based sound systems in its OLED TVs, which vibrate the panel to produce sound in a seemingly similar fashion.
This speaker system means the new iPad has no speaker holes, helping it achieve IP67 water- and dust-resistance. It's also now just 5.4mm thin and weighs 255g or 263g for the wi-fi and cellular versions, respectively.
Inside the new iPad Mini is Apple's A20 Pro chip, which it has borrowed directly from the Award-winning iPhone 18 Pro. It features support for Siri AI via iPadOS 27 and is rated to be powerful enough for heavier workloads, including video editing and gaming.
The 128GB and 256GB models feature a five‑core CPU with two super cores and three efficiency cores and a 16‑core Neural Engine, whereas the 512GB model introduces a hexa-core CPU and a Dual 16‑core Neural Engine for increased AI efficiency.
On sale in two dashing finishes – Midnight and Starlight – the new iPad Mini is available to pre-order now starting at £699 / $699 / AU$1099, with availability starting on the 6th of November.
That's a substantial step up from the £499 / $499 / AU$799 launch price of the previous model, but with a global RAM crisis on our hands, this increase isn't unexpected.
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