Apple already bumped the iPad mini’s price by $100 back in July, and now it looks like the company is about to ask you to spend even more. According to a leak reported by Gizmochina, the iPad mini 8 is shaping up to be a genuinely significant upgrade, with an OLED display, Apple’s A20 Pro chip, and a redesigned camera placement all potentially landing as soon as October. That’s a lot of change for a device that has historically moved at a glacial pace.
The jump to OLED is the headline feature here. The current iPad mini uses an LCD panel, and while it’s perfectly fine, it’s showing its age compared to what Apple puts in its Pro lineup. OLED means deeper blacks, better contrast, and colors that actually pop. The one thing still up in the air is refresh rate. One report suggests the mini could stay stuck at 60Hz, which would be a frustrating omission. Apple has ProMotion at 120Hz across its Pro iPad range, and keeping the mini at 60Hz while charging more for it would be a hard pill to swallow.
Then there’s the A20 Pro chip. This isn’t just a spec bump for benchmark bragging rights. Apple’s more advanced Siri AI features in iOS 27 are reportedly tied to newer silicon, so without A20 Pro, you’d potentially miss out on some of the smarter AI tools coming to the platform. Putting that chip in the mini makes it a serious little machine, not just a compact option for people who want something pocketable.
The camera is moving too. Apple’s code apparently shows the front-facing camera shifting to a landscape orientation, positioned along the longer edge of the display. Every newer iPad already has this layout, so it brings the mini into line with the rest of the family. It also makes video calls feel a lot less awkward when you’re holding the tablet horizontally, which, let’s be honest, is how most people use it.
A few other changes are worth flagging:
- A vibration-based speaker system that could ditch traditional speaker holes entirely
- Improved water resistance, potentially similar to what you get on the iPhone
- A small groove at the top of the display glass for the speaker
- A slightly larger display, though exact dimensions haven’t been confirmed
- Volume and power buttons staying on top
The speaker redesign is interesting because it’s not just about aesthetics. Removing speaker holes is a real engineering move that tightens up water sealing. Apple has been pushing water resistance harder across its product line, and bringing that focus to the mini makes sense.
So what does all this cost? Apple already raised the iPad mini’s starting price from $499 to $599 earlier this year. An OLED panel adds cost, and Apple rarely absorbs that quietly. Another price increase feels likely. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman expects the mini to land before the end of October, so we won’t have to wait long to find out exactly how much Apple wants for this one.
The bigger picture here is that Apple is finally treating the mini like a premium product rather than an afterthought. For compact tablet fans, that’s genuinely exciting. But the 60Hz question needs a good answer, because at $600 or more, there’s no excuse for a screen that can’t keep up with devices half the price.