Apple’s iPhones have lengthy boasted spectacular water-resistance capabilities. Each handset since 2018’s XS technology has been IP68 rated, the very best you’ll see on a client product, and particularly credited with the flexibility to outlive submersion in at the very least 2m of water (or extra, in later generations) for as much as half-hour. Most of us nonetheless dread the thought of dropping our iPhone within the tub or the bathroom, however the actuality is that it might in all probability be fantastic.
The iPad, nonetheless, is a unique matter fully. For no matter purpose, Apple doesn’t publish water-resistance specs for any of its iPads. This doesn’t essentially imply you may’t get them moist, however it in all probability means Apple doesn’t suppose they’d do very properly, which is a fear for holidaymakers who prefer to learn eBooks by the swimming pool.
This might be set to alter. A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, which focuses principally on upcoming OLED display screen upgrades, briefly alludes to a different change: the iPad mini is getting a redesigned case that’s higher capable of face up to liquid intrusions.
The attention-grabbing half is that Apple isn’t merely copying what it does on the iPhone and utilizing that on the bigger gadget. As a substitute, the corporate is engaged on an entire new vibration-based speaker system, which might allow it to eliminate the speaker holes that are such a weak spot for water entry. “That’s a unique strategy than the iPhone’s water resistant design,” Gurman explains, “which retains holes however provides gaskets and adhesives to forestall harm.”
At this stage, the thought stays fairly imprecise, each on when this mini might arrive and the way efficient the water resistance will probably be—there’s no phrase on what IP ranking this could end in, or whether or not Apple would select to publicize a function that would seem to provide the iPad mini a promoting level over its largely costlier siblings. The Seventh-gen iPad mini got here out in fall 2024, and based mostly on previous conduct (a 30-month hole between the fifth and sixth iPad minis; a three-year hole between the sixth and Seventh), it might be a protracted watch for the subsequent mannequin, apparently code-named J510. That’s assuming Apple even completes the challenge in time for the subsequent mini, and as Gurman factors out, it might but change its thoughts and transfer in a unique route.
One element Gurman is ready to touch upon is the value of the upgraded mini: it might value as a lot as $100 greater than the present mannequin, he says, which suggests as much as $599. That value bump is especially attributable to the OLED display screen, however having a little bit of water resistance for the primary time could assist justify the fee when you’re planning to take the pill with you on vacation.