It was nearly two years ago when Apple released the 7th-gen iPad Mini, a tablet known for its versatility and portability. At the time of its release, the company boasted about the tablet being “supercharged” with the A17 Pro chip and Apple Intelligence, and base storage started at 128GB, twice the storage of the previous generation. However, there was still a lot left undesirable about the mini tablet, including having the same outer design, speaker system, and cameras as the 6th-gen Mini. Now, Apple is expected to bring a flurry of changes with a new iPad Mini, featuring tech never seen on any iPad before.

Apple has introduced some out-of-the-box concepts with its recent devices, including the iPhone Air, its thinnest iPhone; the iPhone Duo, the first-ever foldable iPhone; and the expected touchscreen MacBook Pro. But along with the MacBook Ultra, the first-ever OLED iPad Mini is rumored to be released in late October 2026, according to Bloomberg.

The iPad Mini 8 features new hardware never seen before

The speaker system may use vibrations to produce sound

Aside from a new OLED display, the new iPad Mini is expected to have a new speaker system, slimmer bezels, a landscape camera ideal for videoconferencing, and, for the first time ever in an iPad, IP-rated water resistance, according to a report by MacRumors. Arguably, the two most interesting features are the water resistance and speaker system. The report suggests the speaker system may have no speaker holes, which could mean the device uses a vibrational speaker.

A vibrational speaker system would be a first for Apple among its phones and tablets, as it’s not used on many of these devices. Essentially, certain parts of the tablet would serve as speaker membranes, using vibrations to project stereo sound. There hasn’t been a tablet from a major manufacturer with this type of technology before, so it will be interesting to see how a bold move like this pans out. The closest device to use similar tech was the LG G8 ThinQ with its “Crystal Sound OLED.” Released in 2019, the smartphone had no traditional top earpiece or front speaker cutout and instead used a vibrating OLED display for projecting sound. You could say LG and very few other smart device manufacturers were ahead of their time back then.

The hole-less speaker design likely explains the water resistance feature, something iPad users have been waiting for years. It’s bizarre to think that Apple has never had a tablet with IP-rated water resistance, as iPads have been known to be not ideal for outdoor use, primarily for that reason.

Don’t expect iPad Pro performance with the new Mini

There are still some features left to be desired with this 8th-gen tablet

The Bloomberg report notes that the iPad Mini will likely see a $100 price increase over the previous generation, starting at $599, which is currently only $100 less than the MacBook Neo. And while the OLED display and IP water resistance are huge upgrades, it will still have a 60Hz refresh rate like the previous generation, while the current iPad Pro can go up to 120Hz. Also, the Mini is expected to use the A20 Pro chip, similar to this year’s iPhone models. This is ideal for a mini tablet and better than the current base-model iPad, but its processing performance will pale in comparison to the Pro models, which use the M5 chips, the same as those in the base MacBook Pro models. So, for heavy video editing, demanding creative work, and intensive multitasking, the iPad Pro is more ideal.

Battery performance sufficiency for daily use is also a concern, as an iPad’s battery life can degrade significantly over time, and adding multiple never-seen-before specs to a mini tablet may be demanding on the battery. It would be nice if Apple could implement wireless charging on it, similar to previous Amazon Fire HD tablets. Wireless charging in tablets is rare nowadays, but if the iPhone Duo, which supports wireless charging, is similar in size to the iPad Mini 8, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to ask for it in this miniature tablet.

Keyboard support has also historically been an issue with the iPad Mini. While there are Magic Keyboard accessories for both base and Pro iPad models, Apple has never made one for the Mini, and there’s been no confirmed rumor for a new first-party keyboard for this new tablet, thus potentially another limitation on the Mini (although there’s a good chance there’ll be third-party keyboards made for it a few months after its release).

Overall, this is a great step forward for the future of iPads, and the iPad Mini 8 could be ideal for those who prefer portability and casual streaming. But for now, I’d wait for further specs of the device to come out before jumping the gun for a preorder.