While the new iPad mini has an OLED display, the device does not support ProMotion, meaning the screen’s refresh rate is limited to 60Hz instead of 120Hz. ProMotion support would have allowed the iPad mini’s refresh rate to automatically adjust from 10Hz to 120Hz depending on the content being displayed, but Apple has evidently kept the iPad Pro-only feature among iPad models for now. In an interview with YouTuber and podcaster Christopher Lawley, Apple’s vice president of hardware design David Pakula commented on the new iPad mini lacking 120Hz support, noting that its OLED display still has significantly faster pixel response times compared to the previous model with LCD, resulting in reduced motion blur. “The viewing experience is more than just a spec,” Pakula said. “One of the really cool things about OLED is that it actually has a really fast pixel response time. So it’s more than an order of magnitude faster than the pixel response time of an LCD screen. And what that does is it makes everything really smooth. Motion blur is significantly reduced compared to LCD. When you combine that with the other things I mentioned, the contrast, the brightness and the color, this is just a great screen.” Apple says the new iPad mini can reach a maximum brightness of 600 nits for standard content, up from 500 nits on the previous model, and up to 1,200 nits for HDR content. OLED technology allows for higher contrast and more vivid colors as there is no backlight and individual pixels are completely turned off to display true black. Apple’s technical specifications indicate that the new iPad mini has a contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1. The screen still has 326 pixels per inch and P3 wide color support. The new iPad mini is now available for pre-order, with US pricing starting at $699, and the device will launch on Friday, November 6.
