Apple has finally given the iPad mini an OLED display, and it arrives in a thinner, water-resistant body with a much faster chip. The company announced the refresh on Monday morning, landing right in the launch window we reported earlier this month.
Canadian pricing starts at $949 CAD for the Wi-Fi model. That’s $100 more than the outgoing model’s regular retail price of $849.
Pre-orders open on Wednesday, October 28, with the new iPad mini arriving to customers and in stores starting Friday, November 6.
The biggest change is the 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display. It’s larger than the 8.3-inch screen on the last model but keeps the same footprint, thanks to 24 per cent thinner bezels. Peak brightness hits 1,200 nits, more than double the previous generation, and minimum brightness drops to 1 nit for reading in the dark. For the first time on the mini, Apple is also offering a nano-texture glass option to cut glare.
At 5.4 mm thin, the new model is thinner and lighter than before. It also gets an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, tested to a depth of one metre for up to 30 minutes. Colour choices shrink to two, a new midnight and starlight.
Inside is the A20 Pro, built on a 2-nanometre process. Apple says it delivers up to 4.5 times faster AI performance and up to 2.7 times faster graphics than the previous mini, with up to 60 per cent faster multithreaded CPU performance. Only the 512GB models get the Dual 16-core Neural Engine, which Apple says doubles the processing power for on-device AI work.
Video calls should feel more natural now that the 12MP Center Stage front camera sits on the landscape edge. Apple has also added an Acoustic Display with woofers paired through the screen and hidden tweeters for fuller sound, plus an Adaptive True Tone flash on the 12MP rear camera.
Connectivity moves to Apple’s N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread. Cellular models switch to the C2 modem, which Apple says is up to 50 per cent faster than the last mini, and they support eSIM. The tablet ships with iPadOS 27 and Siri AI in beta, which is available in both English and French.
Every configuration is available in midnight or starlight. Here’s what each one costs before tax.
Students and educators can get the Wi-Fi model from $879 with education pricing. The new TechWoven Smart Folio comes in navy blue and taupe for $99.
Both Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C) work with the new iPad mini. Apple Pencil Pro costs $169, or $159 with education savings, while Apple Pencil (USB-C) is $109, or $95 for students and educators.
For context, the previous iPad mini launched at $679 in Canada back in October 2024. By this summer it sold for $849, so the jump from the original launch price is now $270. Apple also pushed through a wave of price increases on Macs and iPads in June.
Is $949 too much for an OLED iPad mini, or is this the upgrade you’ve been waiting for?
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Like the fact that it’s thinner and lighter. Was hoping for a 1 TB storage and better colour options. Not have 120 Hz pro motion doesn’t bug me. But man the price is really getting up there.
Completely absurd. Won’t be supporting Apple products anymore at these prices and such basic updates. It’s sad