65%
Probable
Apple is reportedly prepping the iPad mini 8 launch in the third or fourth quarter of 2026, with one of its hardware highlights being that it will be the company’s first non-flagship tablet to be treated to OLED technology, marking a major shift in the Cupertino firm’s strategy where it incorporates premium components on less expensive products. Fortunately, that’s not the only upgrade that’s expected, because a rumor claims that even the chipset will be significantly more powerful than the A17 Pro found in the iPad mini 7. Best of all, these improvements may arrive while keeping the iPad mini 8’s price unchanged.
The A19 Pro is rumored to be a part of the iPad mini 8’s innards, with Apple keeping costs down by using an LTPS OLED panel instead of an LTPO one
Just a day after Korean media reported that Samsung would be Apple’s exclusive supplier of OLED panels for the iPad mini 8, yeux1122 has returned with his own claims surrounding the compact slate. On this occasion, Apple will apparently kick off mass production in the third quarter, suggesting that the device will officially be unveiled in Q4 2026, which is during the time we could see the OLED M6 MacBook Pro series materialize as well.
As for the other specifications, the iPad mini 8 is said to sport an 8.5-inch OLED, making it slightly bigger than the 8.3-inch panel belonging to the iPad mini 7. It is possible that Apple keeps the iPad mini 8’s footprint unchanged from the iPad mini 7, using flexible OLED technology. This procedure can be similar to the technique that originated with the iPhone X, where the display can be bent to increase screen real estate and shrink the bezels without breaking the panel.
The A19 Pro will be another rumored upgrade that potential buyers will look forward to, with the chipset offering a significant performance boost over the iPad mini 7’s A17 Pro. The SoC is currently found in the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, and boasts the best ‘performance per watt’ in Geekbench 6 when compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Dimensity 9500.
Furthermore, the chipset’s efficiency cores are a thing of magic, because Apple managed to make them up to 29 percent faster at no extra power consumption. With the silicon upgrade, the iPad mini 8 can also transform into a capable gaming tablet, and you’ll be surprised to learn that the A19 Pro can deliver up to a 69 percent framerate boost in AAA games when compared against the A18 Pro and A17 Pro.
Imagine getting all of these perks, but with the price largely remaining unchanged? That is what the rumor suggests, and there are several ways Apple can reduce costs. For instance, we have previously reported that instead of using an LTPO tandem OLED panel on the iPad Pro models, Apple will use a single-layer LTPS OLED on the iPad mini 8. Furthermore, we cannot confirm this, but the company may save on chipset costs if it uses the binned version of the A19 Pro, which offers a 5-core GPU instead of a 6-core one.
Currently, only the iPhone Air sports this configuration, but it won’t be surprising to learn that Apple has kept some of that older chipset inventory for the iPad mini 8. Coming to the price, a launch figure of $499 could be observed while offering 256GB of internal storage for the base model, but let us keep our fingers crossed and await more updates in the future.
News Source: yeux1122
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