While the rumor that the next iPad mini would have an expensive OLED screen is not new, what is, is that in all likelihood it will ship very shortly after the iPhone 18 Pro release.
The unit, said to be codenamed J510, is very late in the development process. While Thursday's report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman doesn't explicitly say that it is in mass production, it will have to be by now to make Apple's rumored timetable for release.
A release for the new unit is expected as soon as October, following the iPhone 18 Pro release cycle. What is not clear is pricing for the unit.
Recently, the iPad mini price was increased to $599. OLED screens are notably more expensive to produce, so a price increase is again likely for the model.
A rumor on July 14 did suggest that displays for an OLED iPad mini are in mass production, though. It's not clear if that referred to the OLED sheets that are cut and made into screens, or if that referred to final assembly of those panels.
The new iPad mini screen is rumored to bean 8.4-inch LTPS rear panel with hybrid OLED. It is also said to have a 60Hz refresh rate, meaning it won't have ProMotion.
The current iPad mini has an 8.3-inch LED-backlit IPS display. It has a resolution of 2,266 by 1,488, a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch, and 500 nits of brightness.
An OLED iPad mini has been rumored for some time, with it coming into tighter focus recently.
In August 2025, a code leak indicated that there would be changes, including a new chip and the use of OLED. By October, a report indicated an OLED iPad mini would come out in 2026, albeit the early-in-year prediction didn't come true.
Another leaker posited in November 2025 that the OLED change would happen in late 2026, which is the current timetable. By December 2025, another Chinese leaker said Apple would use the A20 chip instead of the previously-rumored use of the A19.
Currently, the iPad mini uses an A17 Pro chip with a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine.
