Apple iPad mini 8 brings OLED screen starting at $699

The Apple iPad mini 8 is officially here, arriving on November 6 starting at  $699 for users seeking flagship performance in an ultra-portable tablet. The headline upgrade is a new 8.5-inch Ultra Retina XDR OLED display backed by Apple's next-generation A20 Pro chip, though mobile power users hoping for higher refresh rates will still find the panel capped at 60Hz without ProMotion support.

Pricing and Storage Options

Pre-orders open on October 29 at 1:10 AM, with official sales starting on November 6. The tablet comes in two finishes—Midnight and Starlight—across Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity variants:

• 128GB: 5,499 yuan (Wi-Fi) / 6,799 yuan (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
• 256GB: 6,299 yuan (Wi-Fi) / 7,599 yuan (Wi-Fi + Cellular)
• 512GB: 7,999 yuan (Wi-Fi) / 9,299 yuan (Wi-Fi + Cellular)

Thinner Chassis and OLED Display Upgrades

Apple has streamlined the physical design, making the iPad mini 8 14% thinner and 13% lighter than the iPad mini 7. The upgraded 8.5-inch Ultra Retina XDR OLED display reaches up to 1,200 nits of peak brightness and delivers a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio alongside P3 wide color coverage. While the refresh rate remains locked at standard 60Hz, buyers selecting the 256GB or 512GB storage models can configure their screen with nano-texture display glass to cut down glare.

A20 Pro Chip and Tiered Hardware Configurations

Under the hood, the iPad mini 8 runs on the A20 Pro processor, adopting an advanced packaging architecture inspired by Apple's M-series silicon. Each graphics core incorporates an integrated neural engine accelerator to speed up on-device Apple Intelligence and complex machine learning workloads. Compared to the iPad mini 7, CPU compute speeds are up to 1.6 times faster, while graphics performance sees a jump of up to 2.7 times.

Hardware specifications differ slightly depending on storage capacity. The 128GB and 256GB configurations feature an A20 Pro with a 5-core CPU (2 performance super-cores and 3 efficiency cores), a 7-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Processing Unit (NPU). In contrast, the top-tier 512GB variant steps up to a 6-core CPU (2 performance super-cores and 4 efficiency cores), a 7-core GPU, and a dual 16-core NPU layout.

Cameras, Audio, and Modern Connectivity

Imaging duties are handled by a 12-megapixel rear camera equipped with an adaptive True Tone flash and support for up to 4K video recording at 60 frames per second. Up front, a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera enables 1080p video recording at 60 frames per second. Audio hardware includes dedicated tweeters and woofers alongside dual front-and-rear microphones designed to optimize personalized voice capture and media playback.

For networking, the tablet integrates an Apple N1 wireless chip featuring high-speed Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 6, and Thread smart-home connectivity, while cellular versions carry Apple's C2 baseband modem with eSIM support. Input accessories include Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil (USB-C) with hover capability. Durability also receives a notable upgrade with IP67 dust and water resistance, certified for submersion in up to 1 meter of freshwater for up to 30 minutes.

Does the switch to an OLED panel and IP67 water resistance justify the upgrade for existing iPad mini owners, or does the lack of a 120Hz ProMotion display remain a dealbreaker for your workflow?