Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, kicked off the week by confirming the company’s all-new iPad mini and teasing more to come. “It’s going to be an exciting week, and it starts with our all-new iPad mini,” Joswiak wrote on X. “Thinner and lighter than ever, with an OLED display, water and dust resistance, better audio, powered by A20 Pro… it’s the biggest update ever to iPad mini!”
It’s going to be an exciting week, and it starts with our all-new iPad mini.
Thinner and lighter than ever, with an OLED display, water and dust resistance, better audio, powered by A20 Pro… it’s the biggest update ever to iPad mini! https://t.co/myg4BtuKQD
— Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) October 26, 2026
Joswiak’s promotional video accompanying the post shows the new iPad mini in everyday settings — from waiting rooms and beaches to creative work with Apple Pencil — underscoring its thinner, more portable form and improved display and audio.
The update delivers on those promises. The new iPad mini features an 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display with 600 nits full-screen brightness, 1,200 nits peak brightness, P3 wide color, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, True Tone, and optional nano-texture glass. It is 14% thinner than the previous model, with 24% thinner bezels, and is resistant to dust, splashes, and spills—the first iPad with this level of protection. Performance comes from the A20 Pro chip, which offers up to 1.6× faster CPU performance, up to 2.7× faster GPU performance, Neural Accelerators for significantly faster on-device AI tasks, and double memory bandwidth compared with the prior generation. It also includes a redesigned audio system, a landscape-oriented 12MP Center Stage front camera, support for Apple Pencil Pro, Wi-Fi 7, and 5G with Apple’s C2 modem.
Pricing starts at $699. Pre-orders begin at 10:10 a.m. PT on October 28th, with availability starting November 6th.
This iPad mini launch is only the start. Apple has scheduled a “Pro and Tell” media experience in Los Angeles on October 28th (beginning at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET). Reports and invitations point to additional hardware, including Apple’s first touch-screen MacBook Pro models — redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch versions with OLED displays, lighter designs, Dynamic Island cutouts, and high-end chips — plus an M6-powered entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro and an M6 iMac. Hands-on sessions for invited media are expected to cover the new iPad mini alongside the Macs.
This is a busy stretch for Apple. The foldable iPhone Duo reached stores on October 23rd, following September’s iPhone 18 Pro lineup, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, and AirPods 5. Home-related products announced earlier this month, including Apple HomeView, a new Apple TV 4K with Siri AI, and the new HomePod mini, are also rolling out, with some availability later in October and November. Plus, Apple’s fiscal Q4 earnings call is set for November 2nd.
With the iPad mini now official and the “Pro and Tell” event days away, Apple is delivering a concentrated wave of new hardware across its tablet, Mac, and home lines.
MacDailyNews Take: This big week will cap Apple’s multi-week set up for what promises to be a very strong Christmas shopping season for the company!
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I’d like to see less of Greg ‘Joz’ Joswiak. Thoroughly unlikable, playing the role of political commissar spinning weird narratives about the AI “lunatic fringe” in Silicon Valley and dismissing “chatbots” (basically what Apple released a year later). He’s no Phil Schiller whom he replaced. You’d think Apple could pick a better head of marketing.
Like Apple TV, the cost of the new iPad mini is ridiculous.
Apple continues to think they are untouchable but price matters.