Does 60 Hz look the same on two iPad minis? In the Brandon Butch channel's side-by-side review, the iPad mini 8 keeps a moving object in sharper focus than the iPad mini 7, even though the refresh rate hasn't changed. Slow down the footage of the UFO test and the older LCD leaves a visible trail.

Reading, listening and making calls

  • Screen size. The review puts the two displays side by side, with an increase from 8.3 inches to 8.5 inches diagonally. Narrower borders fit that larger display into a slightly shorter tablet. The reviewer finds the OLED easier to read at both extremes, with a brighter picture at maximum brightness and a dimmer setting for bedtime.
  • Glass finish. The review pairs a Starlight mini with standard glass and a Midnight model with nano-texture glass. Moving the same light across both makes the difference visible even with the displays off. The matte option is available on the 256 GB and 512 GB models.
  • Speakers. The new mini has no visible speaker grilles. Its woofers use the display itself, with tweeters hidden inside the body. Playing the same track on both tablets, the reviewer hears better separation on the new one, while the older mini gets noticeably louder.
  • Front camera. The Center Stage camera moves to the long edge. It puts the lens above the screen when the tablet sits sideways for a video call. The review also shows the larger flash beside the rear camera.

To see where the two new minis differ, the channel runs the same benchmark on both.

Differences the storage label doesn't spell out

  • CPU configuration. Both new units carry the A20 Pro name. The channel reports a five-core CPU on the 128 GB and 256 GB models and a six-core CPU at 512 GB. The tested units scored nearly the same on the single-core run, with the larger model pulling ahead on the multicore test.
  • Graphics. The two A20 Pro models share a seven-core GPU. Both pull well ahead of the A17 Pro mini in the channel's graphics test. The reviewer sees a reason to care if you play demanding games or regularly wait on a long export.
  • Wireless. A Wi-Fi 7 router gave the new mini higher upload and download speeds in this test. That's a result tied to the reviewer's network, so it helps to check what router you have before counting it as an upgrade.

I'd watch the scrolling test at regular speed before deciding. If what bothers you is the blur behind moving text, OLED addresses some of it. If you're waiting for 120 Hz on a mini, both tablets in this video still top out at 60.