The iPad Pro M4, which was released only a few weeks ago, received a brand new screen technology in the form of its extremely snazzy dual-layer OLED panel, which Apple called ‘Tandem OLED’.
So far, the new screen tech has only made its way into the iPad Pro models, skipping the simultaneously released iPad Air 6 which retained the LED screens from prior iPads. Now, however, there is some evidence that Apple will be shrinking down its screens, and releasing the iPad mini 7 with an OLED panel, a la iPad Pro. According to Naver, Samsung has even started developing the screens for the iPad mini, and are now just awaiting evaluation by Apple.
Release date pushed back
Also according to the report, we won’t be seeing the iPad mini either this year, or in 2025. Instead, we can apparently expect to see it released in 2026 — at least, that’s what we’re told. There’s naught in the way of sources to this date, so we’re still hopeful that we’ll receive some news about the latest iPad mini at some point this year.
An OLED iPad mini would make for a stunning little tablet, bringing some of the incredible contrast, color, and brightness of the latest Pro displays to a smaller form factor. It will, however, likely make the more diminutive iPad more expensive than you might want to pay for a small device. After all, the iPad Pro M4 models received $200 price bumps over the M2 models thanks to the new display tech, so we can expect something similar with the iPad mini 7.
It could show that that Apple wants to bring OLED panels to more of its iPads at some point or another, and has only started with the Pro models to show off just how good it is while it’s still expensive to make and stick in iPads. Who knows, perhaps there’s an entirely OLED iPad line somewhere in the future.
