Today's Apple event is expected to be packed with tablet-related tomfoolery: we're expecting to see the new iPad Pros and a new Apple Pencil too. What we probably won't see, though, is the new iPad mini. That's in development alongside a new, cheaper iPad, but neither product is expected to launch this month.
That's according to well-connected reporter Mark Gurman, who says that Apple is working on an 11th-generation iPad that will be "significantly" less expensive than the current model. But it's the iPad mini (7th generation) that's likely to be the more interesting tablet.
The iPad mini is overdue an update: the current generation, the sixth, has been around since 2021. That means it's the oldest iPad that Apple currently sells.
Here's what we know so far about the next generation of Apple's titchiest tablet.
iPad mini 7: what the leaks and rumours say
Although some rumours have suggested that the next iPad mini will be OLED that seems unlikely for at least one more generation: ET News has reported that an 8.7-inch OLED mini has been in development, but it isn't expected to appear until 2026. And this iPad almost certainly won't be a foldable: Apple is currently expected to start mass producing a large foldable first in 2025, followed by a folding iPhone in 2026, and those are the only foldable devices currently tipped for production. What we might see, though, is an improved display with ProMotion. That would solve the scrolling issues that some users dislike. However that particular prediction is possible rather than likely: it would require some significant changes to the mini, changes that according to display expert Ross Young would need "a whole new level of engineering".
The most likely upgrade to the iPad mini in 2024 is its processor. The current model has the A15 Bionic chip that we first saw in the iPhone 13 range; by Apple's standards that's ancient now, with the iPad Pros launching today with M3 or possibly even M4 processors and the new iPad Air expected to get the M2. Even the entry level iPad has a newer processor, the A14.
According to a previous report by Ming-Chi Kuo, the new processor will be the main selling point of the new iPad mini. An M-series processor is possible, but it's also possible that Apple will go for another iPhone processor, most likely the A16 that's in the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 15.
Another area that could really do with an upgrade is the storage, which currently starts at a rather rubbish 64GB and tops out at 256GB. Raising both the lower and upper numbers would be very welcome and would bring the iPad mini in line with the iPhone 15, which is available with 128GB/256GB/512GB.
