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Apple announced a new iPad mini on Monday 26 October 2026. The company’s newsroom release, datelined Cupertino, describes it as the biggest update the iPad mini has received. The 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR display is an OLED panel with an optional nano-texture finish, and the tablet runs on the A20 Pro chip.
Pricing starts at $699 in the United States for the Wi-Fi model and $849 for Wi-Fi plus cellular. Apple says pre-orders open on Wednesday 28 October and the tablet goes on sale on Friday 6 November. TechCrunch reports the same dates and prices in its coverage of the launch.
The release lists several hardware details. The screen reaches peak brightness of up to 1,200 nits, and the device has an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance. It is 5.4 mm thick and comes in midnight and starlight finishes. The front camera is a 12-megapixel Center Stage unit on the landscape edge. Apple also lists an N1 wireless chip supporting Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, a C2 cellular modem, an Acoustic Display audio system and fast-charge support.
Apple claims the A20 Pro delivers up to 4.5 times faster AI performance than the previous generation and up to 60 percent faster multithreaded performance. These are the company’s own figures. They have not been independently tested for this article, and no review units were tested here.
The timing is busy for Apple. MacRumors reports that the iPad mini was announced just minutes before its Monday morning article, and that Apple’s marketing chief, Greg Joswiak, had teased an “exciting week” on X. Apple is also holding a hands-on session on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time in Los Angeles, which MacRumors says is aimed at tech reporters and content creators. That is the same week as the company’s Pro and Tell event on 28 October.
MacRumors also reports expectations, not confirmed by Apple, that Apple will unveil an iMac and a 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 chips this week, along with MacBook Pro models with touch-enabled OLED displays. Those products are not part of the iPad mini announcement and are not confirmed here.
Why it matters: the iPad mini is one of Apple’s smallest tablets, and the move to OLED at a higher starting price changes how buyers will weigh it. MacRumors describes the $699 start as coming after a second price increase this year. How much that affects demand will become clearer once pre-orders and early reviews are in.
Several things remain unknown. Independent reviews and battery tests are not yet available, and all performance claims come from Apple. The sources reviewed do not say how many units Apple expects to sell or how the new model will be stocked at launch.
Sources
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