Apple is expected to unveil the HomeView hub for smart homes tomorrow. This event will likely feature additional products like smart locks and thermostats. Tomorrow’s event will be the first of two in October – the second is allegedly planned for later this month and will focus on new Macs and a new iPad mini.
The latest iPad mini is from 2024 and it was a performance-oriented refresh of the 2021 model – it replaced the A15 chipset with an A17 Pro and doubled the RAM from 4GB to 8GB. The performance boost was appreciated and it enabled Apple Intelligence – well, it did in the regions where it is available, anyway (it’s still not available in the EU, for example). However, not much else changed.
The new iPad mini will reportedly be the first to have an OLED display. Apple will continue making iPads with LCDs, however. It already refreshed the iPad Air series earlier this year with old-fashioned 60Hz IPS LCDs.
According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, who reported on the two upcoming Apple events for October, this will be it for Apple this year. This means that the mini will be the last iPad to be updated in 2026.
The current vanilla iPad from 2025
There has been talk that Apple is working on a new vanilla iPad, but if the above is true, that new model will have to wait until next year. The current model is from last year, the iPad (2025). Similar to the mini, this upgrade brought a new chipset and more RAM (6GB, up from 4GB), but in this case it wasn’t enough for Apple Intelligence. The 2025 model also swapped out the 10.9” IPS LCD for an 11.0” one.
The new vanilla iPad will feature the Apple A19 chipset with 8GB of RAM, which will enable Apple Intelligence, Siri AI and the other AI features that have minimum chipset and RAM requirements. The tablet will have Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth and Thread connectivity thanks to Apple’s N1 networking chip. There will also be a sub-6GHz 5G version with the Apple C1X modem too. This is all according to info gleaned from a code leak.
The last iPad Pros also hail from 2025 – there should be new models next year. Other launches that are expected in 2027 are new MacBook Air and Neo models, plus the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e. The iPad Air may be updated as well, which would be the fourth yearly update in a row for the Air series.