The next iPad mini will get the display it sorely needs

The iPad mini (2024) has only just arrived on the market, but news about the next version is already starting to leak. The latest nugget is good news for everyone except perhaps those who just bought the newest model. According to display expert Ross Young, Apple’s next iPad mini will feature an OLED display. Like previous versions, the current iPad mini has an 8.3-inch LCD.

An OLED display, which is tech that is already available on the iPad Pro (2024) and newer iPhones, offers increased brightness, deeper blacks, and better power efficiency than LCD.

Moving to OLED on iPad mini models is almost certainly Apple’s long-term plan. However, it might be a bit of a wait until we see the iPad mini lineup updated again. Apple’s smallest tablet used to be updated annually, similar to most other iPad models. However, after the release of the 2015 version, updates became less frequent. A new model didn’t emerge after that model until 2019, followed by another release in 2021. The iPad mini (2024) was introduced three years after the previous version. This doesn’t necessarily mean Apple will wait another three years before it updates the product again, although it’s entirely possible the company will wait at least that long.

The iPad Air (2024) also features LCD instead of OLED. Apple will likely update the next iPad Air to an OLED display before updating the iPad mini. Alternatively, Apple might launch OLED versions of both tablets simultaneously in 2025 or 2026, though the recent release of a 2024 refresh makes a new iPad mini next year feel unlikely. The 10th-generation iPad also includes LCD, not OLED, though the basic iPad will likely be the last iPad to get OLED display tech.

The initial reviews of the iPad mini (2024) have been mixed. On the one hand, Digital Trends and other sources have praised the tablet for its new A17 Pro chip, which adds Apple Intelligence compatibility and improved storage options. On the other hand, the tablet retains many of the exact specifications of the previous model, which is disappointing given the long gap between releases.