Apple has unveiled the new iPad mini with an OLED display and A20 Pro chip, and minutes later marketing chief Greg Joswiak teased an "exciting week" on X. The compact tablet is the first in the line to move from LCD panels to OLED, a change Apple calls the biggest update ever for the iPad mini.
Joswiak wrote that the week "starts with our all-new iPad mini," which is thinner and lighter than ever, with an OLED display, water and dust resistance, better audio and the A20 Pro chip. The message suggests the tablet is only the first of several announcements, and attention is focused on Macs.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has speculated that Apple could spread the week over three days: the iPad mini today, M6 iMac and MacBook Pro updates on Tuesday, and a touch-screen MacBook Pro on Wednesday. Gurman presents this as a guess, not a confirmation of Apple's schedule, but it fits his earlier reporting that the M6 iMac and 14-inch MacBook Pro would arrive on Wednesday, the day the touch model was also expected.
Apple's calendar includes an event called "Pro and Tell" on Wednesday, October 28 at 1 p.m. ET in Los Angeles, where journalists and creators are expected to get hands-on time with the new devices. Joswiak had already hinted at the name the previous week.
The tablet news goes beyond the screen. Apple has introduced a new Smart Folio cover made from a woven fabric called TechWoven, the first iPad cover with this material. It costs $79 in the U.S., $20 more than the previous version, and comes in Navy Blue and Taupe. Its two-panel design attaches magnetically and offers adjustable viewing angles. With this change, the new iPad mini appears to be the first iPad since the original 2010 model to launch without a polyurethane cover option, a material Apple had used on iPad covers since 2011.
The tablet also has a 12-megapixel rear camera with Smart HDR 4, able to record 4K video at up to 60 frames per second, and an Adaptive True Tone flash that adjusts the LED pattern and intensity to the focal length. The technology first appeared on the iPhone 14 Pro and later on the M4 iPad Pro, where it improves document scanning. The new iPad mini starts at $699.
Pre-orders for the tablet and the cover open on Wednesday, October 28, with availability from November 6. The next step is Wednesday's event, where Apple is expected to show the Macs tipped for the week.
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