It looks as if the iPad mini is about to get some serious upgrades…

For many, the iPad mini is the perfect iPad.

It does everything you’d expect from an iPad — plus, it’s small, lightweight, portable, fast, and pretty affordable.

If you love your iPad mini, the good news is that it could be receiving a major upgrade later this year, bringing with it lots of new, meaningful features.

However, I bet there’s one feature you’re really hoping to see on the next iPad mini that we might still be left waiting for!

iPad mini – the king of iPads

For me, the iPad became something that I only started using seriously this year.

iPadOS 26 changed everything in how I use the iPad, whether it’s the Pro or the mini. Out of nowhere, I now find excuses to use the iPad every day for nearly all my work, except for video and audio projects.

Funnily enough, the iPad Pro was the gateway to me using the iPad mini more often as well. I’ve now become so comfortable working on a tablet that when I head into town, the obvious device I take with me is the iPad mini.

Last week on the train, I had YouTube open on one side of the screen and Ulysses on the other as I started making notes for a video. Multitasking is now a genuine reality for us iPad users — and all this on something so compact and lightweight.

It’s a win-win for working on the move!

I’m not oblivious to the clamour for an iPad mini Pro, but I think that would defeat the purpose of the mini. If you have more demanding work to do, surely you’d prefer a device with a larger display, right?

The form factor and footprint of the iPad mini are right in the sweet spot, which makes it unique. That said, some pretty exciting upgrades could be coming in a few months for our favourite little tablet.

What are you looking at?

One of the biggest improvements could be to the display.

Finally, might see an OLED display!

Apple has been eager to roll out OLED across as many devices as possible, with rumours suggesting we may even see an OLED MacBook Pro before the year ends. OLED made its first appearance on the Apple Watch in 2015, then on iPhones starting with the iPhone 10 in 2017, and in 2024, it made it on the iPad Pro.

The tandem OLED display on the iPad Pro has spoiled me, and those darker blacks and richer colours that an OLED panel offers would be a welcome upgrade on the mini’s display.

With any luck, it might be brighter too.

But…it’s not all good news. Opinions are mixed, and there’s little conclusive proof either way, but we may not get ProMotion this time around. No, Apple might make us wait another twelve months for a 120Hz ProMotion display.

The screen size could also slightly increase from 8.3 inches to perhaps 8.7 inches. That small but significant boost would be very useful, helping us to accomplish more in this era of iPad multitasking.

Though unlikely, I’d love to see slimmer bezels at the same time.

I understand the reasons for slightly thicker bezels — mainly because the iPad mini is often held in notebook style, and the bezels provide a space for your thumbs to rest naturally.

But, come at me if you want, I’m all about aesthetics, and slimmer bezels look way better!

Since the iPad mini is used outdoors so often, a Nano-texture display would make perfect sense. That’s probably wishful thinking, but it would be incredible. Unfortunately, Apple only seems to offer Nano-texture displays on their higher-end models, so it might remain a dream…for now.

And before I move on from the display, when will Face ID arrive on the iPad mini? Touch ID feels outdated and slower now.

Inside matters

Some of the major changes will be happening inside the new iPad mini.

Last year, Apple made great strides by using all its own chips across its devices. They’re now able to optimise their chips for their OS, which has shown impressive results.

Both the iPhone 16e and iPhone Air have exceeded expectations in both call quality and battery life.

While the iPad mini hasn’t historically had poor battery life, I’m sure we’d all appreciate a boost.

There’s no indication of an M-series chip for the next mini, nor any reason to think it’ll be among the first to use the A20 chip.

Most likely, the new iPad mini will get the A19 Pro chip, lifted directly from the iPhone Air. As multitasking increases our scope of productivity with more windows and tabs open, that extra performance would be very handy.

The good news continues, as I expect the mini to also include the new N1 chip for faster connectivity, along with the C1X modem. Keep in mind, modems can eat up power, so a more efficient one is always a plus.

The only subtle external design changes are that it might be a little slimmer, thanks to those chips, and we may see some bolder, more playful colours.

I hear you

Do you realise that no iPad has ever been rated with any kind of water-resistance?

Considering how portable the iPad mini is, that seems like a major oversight. Luckily, it seems that’s about to change with the new model.

The grills on the iPad mini have always been a bit of a red herring anyway. The iPad mini has only two speakers despite the appearance of the four speaker grills.

Apple appears to be taking a revolutionary approach by reducing points of ingress. Rumours suggest they’ll replace those traditional speaker grills with sound-emitting surfaces.

If I understand that correctly, they plan to use vibrations in the display to produce sound, similar to bone conduction technology. I’m not sure how stereo sound will work, but this idea sounds very Apple-like.

If anyone can figure out this audio wizardry, I trust Apple’s audio team to get the job done. I know Sony has dabbled in this area before, but it would be a first for Apple.

Is the future safe for the iPad mini?

On the surface, the upcoming foldable iPhone might seem to threaten the mini’s future, but I believe it’s safe — and here’s why.

The rumoured 7.8-inch foldable iPhone will be priced around £2500, which is a lot of money and clearly not for everyone, and it’s a first-generation device too, which often has teething issues. That’s precisely why I believe the iPad mini will survive.

They serve very different users, despite being of similar sizes.

Considering the likely high price, OLED displays, and advanced surface sound-emitting tech, it’s natural that costs will rise — at a guess, I’d reckon by about 20% — but it will still be way cheaper than the foldable iPhone alternative.

Although I was late to the iPad scene, I’m now really enjoying it. All my recent writing has been on the iPad, and the mini always finds its way into my camera bag when I’m out and about.

If all the upgrades we finally get only end up being just an OLED display and the A19 Pro chip, I’d still consider it a worthwhile upgrade, and I’d be first in line to get one.

Don’t forget, if you’re an iPad Pro user who pairs it with the Magic Keyboard, you can grab my free shortcut guide here.