Apple’s iPad mini goes OLED with A20 Pro and IP67, from AED 2,849 in the UAE

Apple has unveiled a redesigned iPad mini with an 8.5-inch OLED display, a 2nm A20 Pro chip and an IP67 water and dust rating. Apple’s announcement puts UAE pre-orders on Wednesday 28 October at apple.com/ae and in the Apple Store app, with deliveries and in-store availability from Friday 6 November. The Wi-Fi model starts at AED 2,849, and the Wi-Fi + Cellular version at AED 3,449. The launch lands close to the late-October window we flagged when the rumours first surfaced.

A bigger OLED screen in the same footprint

The headline change is the display. The screen grows to 8.5 inches without making the tablet any larger, because Apple trimmed the bezels by 24 percent. The switch to OLED brings deeper blacks and P3 wide colour, and Apple quotes a peak brightness of up to 1,200 nits, which it says is more than double the previous generation. Full-screen brightness for SDR and HDR content reaches 600 nits, contrast is rated at 2,000,000:1, and the minimum brightness drops to 1 nit for reading in the dark.

A nano-texture option, familiar from the iPad Pro, is available to cut glare outdoors. The release doesn’t give a separate AED price for it, so check the configurator on 28 October before you pick a storage tier.

The body is also thinner, at 5.4 mm, and Apple says it’s lighter than before. It comes in two new finishes, midnight and starlight. The IP67 rating is new for the mini line, and it depends on the new speaker design. Apple’s Acoustic Display uses woofers paired through the screen for more bass and volume, while custom tweeters sit between the glass and the aluminium enclosure. That sealed enclosure is what helps the tablet meet the IP67 rating.

A20 Pro puts the focus on AI and graphics

Inside is the A20 Pro, built on a 2nm process in a new package that Apple says draws on its M-series chips. It pairs a 7-core GPU, with a Neural Accelerator in each core, and up to a 6-core CPU. Apple claims up to 4.5x faster AI performance than the previous iPad mini, up to 2.7x faster graphics and up to 60 percent faster multithreaded performance. The GPU adds dynamic caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, and unified memory bandwidth more than doubles.

The same neural-accelerator approach powers the laptop chip we covered in our M5 breakdown, so the mini now sits closer to the Pro line on on-device AI. One detail affects which model to buy: the Dual 16-core Neural Engine, which Apple says doubles the previous generation’s processing power, is listed on the 512GB configuration. Apple says using all 32 cores suits heavier on-device workloads, and it names apps such as Draw Things and Detail. Apple’s release ties that spec to the 512GB model only, so the 128GB and 256GB versions don’t get it.

Cameras, connectivity and iPadOS 27

The 12MP Center Stage front camera now sits on the landscape edge, which puts you in frame when the tablet is held horizontally for FaceTime. The rear 12MP Wide camera records 4K video at up to 60 fps, and an Adaptive True Tone flash is added to help with document scanning.

Connectivity moves to Apple’s own silicon. The N1 chip handles Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, and Apple says it improves 5GHz Wi-Fi performance and the reliability of AirDrop and AirPlay. Cellular models use the C2 modem system, which Apple says delivers up to 50 percent faster cellular data than the previous mini. The tablet also supports fast charging and eSIM.

It ships with iPadOS 27, which we broke down in our WWDC 2026 roundup. The release highlights a new Liquid Glass slider in Settings that runs from ultraclear to fully tinted. iPadOS 27.2 adds extended display mode for connected external displays. Dave Pakula, Apple’s vice president of Hardware Engineering, calls the new mini “a huge leap forward for users who love having the full iPad experience in the palm of their hand.”

UAE pricing and accessories

The new tablet comes in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB configurations. All the prices below are from Apple’s UAE release.

The Smart Folio gets a redesign with a two-panel structure and TechWoven fabric in navy blue and taupe. Apple says the adjustable design adds new viewing angles. Both Apple Pencil (USB-C) and Apple Pencil Pro work with the tablet. The Pro adds squeeze, barrel roll and Find My support.

If you already own a recent iPad, the OLED panel and IP67 rating are the changes you’d notice most. The tablet is also the first mini to carry Apple’s neural-accelerator GPU design found in the latest iPad Pro, which makes the 512GB model the one to look at for local AI work. Apple also offers trade-in credit for your current iPad at apple.com/ae/shop/trade-in, and AppleCare+ is available for the new model.