Pre-orders for the iPad mini (2026) will begin on October 28 through the Apple India website and the Apple Store app.
iPad mini (2026) is the first Apple tablet to ship with water resistance
Photo Credit: Apple
Apple launched the iPad mini (2026) in India and global markets on Monday. The tablet has debuted mere days before the ‘Pro and Tell' event, where the Cupertino-based tech giant is expected to unveil its first touchscreen MacBook Pro. The iPad mini (2026) features a new 8.5-inch OLED screen, making it the first in the lineup to do so. It is powered by the A20 Pro chipset and comes with a landscape-oriented front camera. The tablet runs iPadOS 27 and supports new Apple Intelligence features, along with Siri AI.
The price of the iPad mini (2026) in India starts at Rs. 82,900 for the Wi-Fi model with 128GB of storage, while the Wi-Fi + Cellular variant starts at Rs. 1,00,900. Customers can also avail of education savings to purchase it at a starting price of Rs. 76,900. The tablet comes in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage options. It is offered in Midnight and Starlight colourways.
Apple says pre-orders for the iPad mini (2026) will begin on October 28 through the Apple India website and the Apple Store app. Its availability starts on November 6 at Apple Store locations and authorised resellers across the country.
Apple has also introduced a new Smart Folio for the tablet, which is available in Navy Blue and Taupe for Rs. 8,500. The iPad mini (2026) supports both the Apple Pencil Pro, priced at Rs. 11,900, and the Apple Pencil (USB-C), priced at Rs. 7,900.
The new iPad mini (2026) sports an 8.5-inch Super Retina XDR (2316 x 1512 pixels) OLED screen with support for the P3 wide colour gamut and a peak brightness of up to 1,200 nits. The company has also introduced a nano-texture display option to reduce glare in bright environments.
The tablet is powered by Apple's A20 Pro chip, built using a 2nm process. It features a 7-core GPU with Neural Accelerators in each GPU core. The 128GB and 256GB models have a five-core CPU, while the 512GB variant has a six-core CPU. Apple claims up to 4.5 times faster AI performance, up to 2.7 times faster graphics performance, and up to 60 percent faster multithreaded CPU performance compared to the previous generation.
Another new feature of the iPad mini (2026) is the Acoustic Display system. Apple says it has specially designed woofers, which are paired with custom tweeters positioned between the glass and aluminium enclosure. This allows the tablet to use the screen to produce sound.
On the optics front, the tablet is equipped with a landscape-oriented 12-megapixel Center Stage front camera. At the back is a 12-megapixel Wide sensor with Smart HDR 4 support and 4K video recording at up to 60fps.
For connectivity, the iPad mini (2026) gets Apple's N1 wireless networking chip, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6.0. The cellular models, on the other hand, feature the C2 modem, which is claimed to enable up to 50 percent faster cellular data speeds than the previous generation, along with eSIM support. The iPad mini (2026) runs iPadOS 27. It supports the new Apple Intelligence features and Siri AI.
The tablet measures 195.3 x 132.6 x 5.4mm. The Wi-Fi model weighs 255g, while the Cellular variant tips the scales at 263g. It is also the first iPad in Apple's lineup to come with water resistance, with the tablet featuring an IP67 ingress protection rating. The iPad mini (2026) packs an 18.9Wh lithium-polymer battery. Apple claims it can deliver up to 10 hours of video playback on a single charge. It supports 35W wired fast charging.
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