No iPad currently carries an official water resistance rating, and Apple has never positioned any of its tablets as safe around water. That's reportedly about to change. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple's next iPad mini is being built with a water-resistant design comparable to what the iPhone already offers, and the device is now expected to arrive by October.
How Apple Is Reportedly Achieving This
The key to the redesign is said to be a vibration-based speaker system that does away with traditional speaker holes entirely. Instead of sound exiting through drilled openings, it would emit from flat sections of the tablet's chassis, effectively turning parts of the body itself into the speaker diaphragm. Removing speaker holes closes off one of the most common paths through which water and dust typically enter a device.
This differs meaningfully from how Apple currently handles water resistance on the iPhone, which relies on adhesives and gaskets to seal speaker openings and other entry points rather than eliminating the openings altogether. It's not yet known what specific IP rating the iPad mini will carry, for reference, the iPhone is rated IP68, capable of surviving submersion up to six meters deep for 30 minutes.
Notably, this isn't an entirely new idea for Apple. A patent filed by the company back in 2014 described a "mechanically actuated panel acoustic system" built around vibrating flat panels to produce sound without speaker grilles, suggesting Apple has had this concept in development for over a decade before apparently bringing it to a shipping product.
Closing the Gap With E-Readers
A genuinely water-resistant iPad mini would close one of the more practical, everyday advantages dedicated e-readers have held over Apple's smallest tablet. Devices like the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Color are already rated to survive submersion, making them a safer choice for reading in the bath or by a pool, a use case the iPad mini currently can't match.
Other Changes Expected Alongside Water Resistance
Water resistance is reportedly just one of at least four major changes coming to this year's iPad mini. The tablet is expected to switch to OLED, making it the second iPad line to adopt the technology after the iPad Pro, with benefits including higher contrast, true blacks, and improved power efficiency over the LCD panel used in the current iPad mini 7. A Korean industry source has claimed the panel will be an 8.4-inch LTPS design running at 60Hz, which would rule out ProMotion's adaptive refresh rate for this generation.
Apple is also reportedly planning a substantial processor upgrade. Code inadvertently published by Apple pointed toward the A19 Pro chip, the same chip used in the iPhone Air, while separate evidence found in a macOS kernel debug kit suggests the tablet could instead use the unreleased A20 Pro. Which of the two chips actually ships remains unconfirmed.
Supply chain activity lends some weight to the October timeline. Korean outlet ETNews reported in June that Samsung Display had begun mass production of OLED panels intended for the device, consistent with a launch window later this year.
Pricing Context
Apple last updated the iPad mini in October 2024, introducing the A17 Pro chip alongside Apple Intelligence support. The tablet currently starts at $599 following Apple's broader price increases across its lineup in June. Gurman had previously suggested the OLED model could cost up to $100 more than the current version, though that estimate predates the company's June price adjustments and may no longer reflect the final pricing gap.
