New iPad mini: 8.5-inch OLED, A20 Pro, IP67, from 24,900 baht in Thailand

Apple unveiled a new iPad mini on 26 October 2026 and calls it the biggest update the iPad mini has ever had. It moves to an 8.5-inch OLED display and the A20 Pro chip, slims down to 5.4 mm and gains IP67 water and dust resistance. Thai prices start at 24,900 baht. This is a summary of Apple Thailand's press release and apple.com/th; we haven't tried one yet.

At 5.4 mm it is thinner and lighter than before, so it is easier to hold in one hand for reading or working on the move. It comes in two colours, a new midnight and starlight, with 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage.

Starlight is the only light finish this time; the previous model's space grey, purple and blue are gone.

It is rated IP67, tested in lab conditions at up to 1 metre for up to 30 minutes. Apple pitches it for working in the rain or reading by the pool, but notes that resistance can decrease with normal wear, you shouldn't charge it while wet, and liquid damage isn't covered by the warranty.

The display grows to 8.5 inches in the same-size body, thanks to 24% thinner borders. It is a Super Retina XDR OLED with per-pixel light control for deeper blacks, P3 wide colour, up to 1,200 nits peak brightness (double the previous model), 600 nits full-screen for SDR and HDR, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a 1-nit minimum for reading in bed at night.

The A20 Pro is built on a 2-nanometre process and has a 7-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator in every core. Compared with the previous iPad mini, Apple claims up to 4.5x faster AI, up to 2.7x faster graphics (with Dynamic Caching and hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing) and up to 60% faster multithreaded CPU performance. Unified memory bandwidth is more than doubled.

Worth knowing before you pick a capacity: the 128GB and 256GB models have a 5-core CPU and a 16-core Neural Engine, while the 512GB model gets a 6-core CPU and a dual 16-core Neural Engine, which Apple says has twice the processing power of the previous model and speeds up apps like Draw Things and Detail.

The new Acoustic Display works with a redesigned woofer for deeper bass and more volume, while a dedicated tweeter now sits hidden between the glass and the aluminium body. The sealed display structure is also part of how it reaches IP67.

The 12MP Center Stage front camera moves to the landscape edge, so video calls frame properly with the iPad held sideways. The 12MP wide rear camera has Smart HDR 4, records 4K video at up to 60 fps, and adds an adaptive True Tone flash that helps with document scanning.

The Apple-designed N1 wireless chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, and makes 5GHz Wi-Fi, AirDrop and AirPlay more reliable. Cellular models use the C2 modem, with up to 50% faster cellular data than the previous model and better power efficiency. It uses eSIM and supports fast charging.

It ships with iPadOS 27, which adds a slider to set how clear or tinted Liquid Glass looks. From iPadOS 27.2 it also supports extended display mode on an external monitor, so you can arrange app windows on a bigger screen.

The new Smart Folio is a thin, light two-panel cover in TechWoven fabric that attaches magnetically and props up at more angles. It comes in navy (to match midnight) and a grey-brown (to match starlight) for 2,990 baht.

It works with Apple Pencil Pro (4,490 baht, 4,090 baht education), which adds squeeze, barrel roll and Find My, and with Apple Pencil (USB-C) (2,990 baht, 2,590 baht education) for everyday notes and sketches. All accessories are sold separately.