The iPad Mini is Apple’s smallest tablet, and it’s also one of its best. It’s portable, fast, runs Apple Intelligence and is compatible with the excellent Apple Pencil Pro.
The last update to the iPad Mini came in October 2024, when Apple specced up the chip inside the dinky tablet to ensure it would run all the AI features in iOS 18 without a hitch.
I reviewed the iPad Mini 7 before launch and was a huge fan, even if I felt it was a rather minor refresh. This wasn’t going to entice anyone who had picked up an iPad Mini 6, due to many of the main features being very much the same, like the overall design and screen tech used.
In my review, one of the areas I wished Apple had spent more time focusing on was the display. Instead of keeping it the same as before, with a 60Hz LCD panel, I’d have liked it to have switched to an OLED, like the ones used in the best iPhones and the iPad Pro M4.
Well, if a recent online rumour is to be believed, the iPad Mini 8 could bring about the change I most desire. An OLED-toting iPad Mini could be near, and I can’t wait.
According to a post on Weibo by Digital Chat Station (via GSMArena), Apple is currently in the process of “evaluating” small OLED panels around the 8.8-inch size. That would be ideal for the iPad Mini range.
Now, that’s certainly limited information, and this is worth taking with a fairly hefty grain of salt; however, any hint towards Apple switching up its display tech for the lower-end iPads is good news.
Apple has been rumoured to use OLED panels in the iPad Mini range before, but nothing ever materialised. Hopefully, things will be different this time.
Why would the iPad Mini suit an OLED display?
Due to its small size, the iPad Mini is the ultimate portable iPad. It can slip into smaller bags and even some larger coat pockets wth ease. As a result, the iPad Mini is excellent for catching up on Netflix on the go or replacing the age-old screens on the back of plane seats. What makes any device better for consuming media? A superior display.
OLED panels can display perfect blacks, reach higher levels of brightness at this size and display more vivid colours. They’re also much more capable of displaying HDR content. Basically, videos watched on OLED look a whole lot more immersive.
