OLED iPad mini may not land until 2026

Consumers may have to wait until 2026 before they can buy a new iPad mini — and it may have a brand new display.

Apple has not updated the iPad mini for a considerable amount of time. However, an update may not be arriving anytime soon.

According to ZDNet Korea via Naver, Samsung Display has started to develop a new display for the iPad mini. It has already developed samples which it reportedly sent to Apple in April.

Furthermore, the display could end up getting a major upgrade. Those samples are reportedly OLED, making it equal to the iPad Pro line's screens.

Samsung's target for mass production is apparently as early as the second half of 2025. If true, this could result in an early 2026 release at best.

While ZDNet is a known publication, ZDNet Korea does not have a track record that we can use to determine whether this is likely or unlikely to happen.

There have been other regulatory filings in October that hinted at a potential iPad mini launch. Such filings usually mean a launch will happen soon, making a multi-year wait unlikely. Add in that the sixth-gen iPad mini was released in September 2021, a five-year gap seems very implausible for a well-loved product.

8 Comments

fred1 1133 comments · 11 Years

About 6 months ago

The Mini is by far my favorite Apple device, but I’m not sure the OLED display is a good enough reason to upgrade from my Mini 6.

kdupuis77 160 comments · 15 Years

I'm loving my new iPad Pro's OLED screen but if/when Apple blesses the mini with OLED and ProMotion I am going back down to my baby. The iPhone's OLED and MacBook Pro's MiniLED displays have spoiled me and there is no going back now haha.

macgui 2464 comments · 17 Years

An OLED screen is a different story. If this happens, I'm onboard day 1. I've yet to see the iPP's OLED screen but my iPhone's screen is a thing of great beauty. The difference between it and my iPads' screens are night and day. They're not bad but the iPhone is much better. So even if that were the only difference, I'd be getting one.

dewme 5753 comments · 10 Years

I really like my iPad mini 6. Even though it’s considered long in the tooth for an Apple device it still seems surprisingly fast to me. My only complaint with the iPad mini is the desktop seems to have way too much blank space (gutter) around the icons and widgets. I think they could scale down the icons just a little bit and make better use of the available screen real estate.

Samhain 11 comments · 5 Years

While an OLED iPad mini may be coming in 2026, I still think they will have a new iPad mini this year, the current one is really in need of a replacement and lots of iPad mini 5th Generation owners are waiting in the wings :-)