Upcoming iPad mini likely to get OLED, retain 60Hz, and probably get more expensive

Tim Hardwick: Upcoming OLED iPad Mini Allegedly Uses 60Hz 8.4-Inch Display Panel

Apple is allegedly using a 60Hz 8.4-inch display panel in the upcoming OLED iPad mini, which is expected to be released later this year.

I obviously don’t love that they’re sticking with 60Hz for this device, but more importantly, I don’t understand why they keep pushing this product up market. Especially when the highest end iPhone is expected to be close to this size, not to mention Max iPhones already being pretty close to it already (and with massively better screens), I just don’t understand why they keep pushing up the price of this product.

I’m sure Apple has their reasons, but to me it really feels like this product should be like $249 and it’s kind of like the Mac mini where almost everyone can find a use case for it because it’s so cheap. The iPad mini already starts at $599, and how much do you want to bet that this new model will push the starting price up even more? As far as I can remember, every time Apple has added OLED to a device they sell, the price has gone up at the same time.

And just to get ahead of it, you might ask why I think it’s dumb that they’re limiting the refresh rate while also complaining about the price. As we’ve seen with the MacBook Neo, a lot can be forgiven if you hit the right price. I think if they’re gonna sell the iPad mini as a premium tablet, then it should have premium specs. Like I said, I don’t understand why that product needs to be premium, and therefore I think they can skimp on some specs to make it a great impulse buy for folks.