I just tested the iPad mini 8 — and its OLED panel and thinner design make it one of my favorite tablets ever

The iPad mini 8 ($699 to start) is a huge upgrade to Apple’s smallest tablet. It's not only the thinnest and lightest iPad mini ever, but it also packs a stunning OLED panel — a first for the line. The option to upgrade to a nearly glare-free nano-texture display also makes viewing more enjoyable.

The upgrades don’t stop with the design. Thanks to the powerful A20 Pro chip inside, this tiny tablet punches above its weight. This efficient processor also gives the iPad mini 8 astonishing battery life, lasting over 14 hours in our testing. Audio also gets an upgrade, thanks to Audio Display technology, which delivers punchy sound right through the panel.

Though the iPad mini 8 lacks Face ID for easier unlocking and has a 60Hz display, there’s no denying it’s one of the best iPads you can buy. It’s a superb tablet for watching movies, reading books, and even for some light work. I’ve found it a delight to use, and I’m sure you will too. Find out more in my review!

Apple iPad mini 8 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The iPad mini 8 is the latest version of Apple’s smallest iPad, upgraded with a thinner design, a tandem OLED panel, and an A20 Pro chip.
• Who is it for? It’s for folks who want a small but powerful iPad that’s easier to travel with.
• What does it cost? The iPad mini 8 starts at $699 for the 128GB model with a glossy screen. Our review unit is valued at $1,249 and features a Nano-texture display and 512GB of storage.
• What do we like? We like the gorgeous tandem OLED panel, compact size, sleek design, powerful performance, and epic battery life.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like the lack of Face ID and that the display is locked to a 60Hz refresh rate.

Apple iPad mini 8 review: Specs

Apple iPad mini 8 review: The ups

The iPad mini 8 is a fantastic tablet thanks to its portable design and beautiful OLED panel. If that wasn’t enough, it delivers near iPad Air levels of performance and battery life.

Lovely design

The new iPad mini 8 features a thinner and lighter design than previous models, making it even more portable and easier to hold. Thanks to that, it was easy for me to read books and comics with one hand for much longer. The sturdy and smooth aluminum chassis also feels fantastic in hand. The iPad mini 8 comes in Midnight and Starlight colors, and both look great.

Another significant redesign is that the 12MP front camera is now positioned for landscape mode. This helps keep you centered during video calls or when taking selfies. The rear 12MP camera remains in the same position as before. The same is true for the power button / Touch ID sensor and volume buttons, which are located on the top when held in portrait orientation.

For the first time, the iPad mini features an IP67 rating that helps protect it against water and dust. So if you enjoy reading by the pool or want protection when working outside on a rainy day, you can do so with less stress.

Vivid tandem OLED panel

The iPad mini 8’s upgraded display is a marvel to behold. Thanks to the smaller bezels, the screen is now 8.5 inches across instead of 8.3. It also gets a noticeable resolution bump to 2316 x 1512 pixels with 326 pixels-per-inch (ppi). These upgrades alone would have made this a better display, but Apple sweetened things up with an OLED panel.

Using the same tandem OLED technology as the iPad Pro, the iPad mini’s panel delivers excellent contrast between dark and light elements. As a result, colors practically pop off the screen. When watching a nature video featuring a lava flow, I was stunned by how vivid the reds and oranges were, while also marveling at the detail in the surrounding environment.

The review unit Apple sent features a nano-texture display, which does an excellent job of diminishing screen glare without meaningfully sacrificing an image’s vibrancy. A glossy screen would make everything pop a bit more, but I’d rather have less screen glare, so it’s a fair trade-off since you’re not losing much, at least to my eyes.

How did the iPad mini 8’s display fare in our lab testing? Apple said its small tablet can deliver 600 nits of SDR brightness and hit a peak of 1200 nits of HDR brightness. While the former is certainly true, HDR doesn’t quite make the claim. That said, getting a tad over 1000 nits of brightness is fantastic, and is more than double the brightness of the iPad mini. Trust me, this display gets extremely bright.

Color reproduction (sRGB and DCI-P3) is more saturated than before, which accounts for how rich colors appear. That said, hues don’t get too oversaturated and still maintain a lifelike quality. Color accuracy (Delta-E) is also quite strong.

Incredible performance

This is the most powerful iPad mini ever, thanks to its powerful A20 Pro chip—the same 2nm processor found in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. The Wi-Fi + Cellular model I tested has a 6-core CPU and 7-core GPU, which gives it a bit more oomph. Thanks to this chip, the iPad mini 8 comes close to matching the performance of the M4-powered iPad Air, which proves this tiny tablet punches above its weight.

Even with dozens of open Chrome tabs and a YouTube video running, the iPad mini 8 keeps going with no noticeable slowdown. If you want to get some work done on this tablet, it can handle it. The same goes for gaming: Resident Evil 4 Remake runs at a solid 30 frames per second.

Our benchmark results confirm my anecdotal testing. As you can see above, the iPad mini 8 blows away its predecessor on the Geekbench CPU benchmarks, turning in significantly higher scores. And while the iPad Air M4 outpaces it, the gap isn’t significantly large.

We see a similar story on the 3DMark benchmark, which tests a device’s GPU performance. The iPad mini 8 not only crushes the iPad mini 7, but it also scores better than the iPad Air M4! Granted, a device’s design plays a role, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison (pun intended), but the fact that the iPad mini 8 is even in the same conversation as an iPad Air performance-wise is impressive.

More than all-day battery life

Apple says the iPad mini 8 has up to 10 hours of battery life while surfing the web on Wi-Fi or video playback. However, our testing reveals that the diminutive tablet actually lasts well past that claim.

In the Tom’s Guide battery test, which involves continuous web-surfing over Wi-Fi with the display set to 150 nits of brightness, the iPad mini 8 lasted for an astonishing 14 hours and 24 minutes! That’s nearly four hours longer than the previous model and Apple’s claims.

We typically perform our battery test three times to get an average, but we only had time for a single run for this review. I’ll update this piece after we’ve completed all three runs, but I suspect the final results will be close to what you see above. Basically, this is one of the longest-lasting iPads we’ve ever tested!

Punchy sound

The iPad mini 8 ditches a traditional speaker system for what Apple calls an Acoustic Display. As the company explains, specially designed woofers are paired through the display to produce punchier bass and louder volume. Custom tweeters hidden beneath the display and enclosure also help with higher-pitched sounds.

Technical jargon aside, this iPad mini produces fantastic sound that always made my ears sing. Audio from podcasts always sounds sharp and clear, and the same is true for movie trailers. I was particularly impressed when listening to Tommy Johansson’s cover of Black Sabbath’s “Headless Cross,” where the powerful vocals and roaring guitars came through brilliantly.

Though the iPad mini 8 doesn’t get as loud as an iPad Pro, nor does it deliver similarly punchy bass, it’s still one of the best-sounding tablets I’ve ever tested.

Sharp cameras

Video calls and taking photos are more natural now that the front 12MP Center Stage camera is positioned for landscape orientation. Better yet, the camera now features a wider f/2.0 aperture (up from f/2.4), which helps improve photos taken in dim areas. As you can see above, the front camera does a great job of capturing all the details on my face, clothing, and in the background.

The rear 12MP camera keeps 4K video at up to 60 frames per second, but it also adds Adaptive True Tone flash for taking low-light shots and document scanning. Like the front camera, it does an excellent job of capturing details in photos.

iPadOS 27

The iPad mini 8 supports iPadOS 27 out of the box. The latest version of the operating system is more iterative than revolutionary, but it delivers strong system refinements and better AI integration, along with a more refined user interface that I quite enjoy.

Arguably the biggest change in iPadOS 27 is the smarter Siri, which now has a dedicated Siri app that works like a standard chatbot. Not only does it understand what you have on the screen, but it can also take actions on your behalf, like creating calendar events. The Liquid Glass UI isn’t as overbearing as before, and you can better fine-tune how it looks.

iPadOS 27 is very AI-centric, so your mileage may vary on how much you’ll use the new Apple Intelligence and Siri AI features. These aren’t things I typically use, but having small things like notification summaries is admittedly useful. Overall, iPadOS 27 is another smooth and stable operating system that works great on the iPad mini 8.

Apple iPad mini 8 review: The downs

The iPad mini 8 brings some fantastic upgrades, but it’s curiously missing some crucial features.

No Face ID

Face ID is one of my favorite features on Apple, since it makes unlocking devices that support it so much easier. Unfortunately, this is a feature lacking on the iPad mini 8.

It’s a curious omission considering all the upgrades the tablet has already received. I won’t endeavor to guess why Face ID isn’t supported, as there could be any number of reasons. Thankfully, Touch ID is still supported and works as intended.

No 120Hz

While the display has received a marvelous upgrade thanks to the OLED panel, larger size, and higher resolution, there is no ProMotion support. Because of that, the refresh rate tops out at 60Hz.

To be fair, that 60Hz refresh rate is extremely smooth, especially for games and videos. However, if you’re used to the 120Hz smoothness of the iPad Pro, then actions like swiping the screen and opening apps will appear choppy in comparison.

That aside, touch controls are as snappy and responsive as ever on the iPad mini. This applies when using your finger and when using accessories like the Apple Pencil Pro. Speaking of the latter, the stylus works marvelously on the iPad mini’s display for taking notes and doodling.

Apple iPad mini 8 review: Verdict

The iPad mini 8 is a phenomenal little tablet that I can’t get enough of using. And that’s saying a lot considering how the iPad Pro is my usual daily driver. I just love how vivid and sharp videos and books look on the tandem OLED panel. Holding the iPad is also nice thanks to its thinner, lighter design.

Even if the iPad mini 8 is now pricier than before, it’s a worthwhile purchase. You won’t find a tablet this small offering the same rich features and delightful experience. It also hints at what’s to come, as I’m sure Apple will incorporate features like Audio Display into future iPads. But for now, this is the most exciting iPad mini ever.

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