According to a post on ETNews (translated from Korean), ahead of its fall 2026 product announcements, Apple is ordering approximately 90 million iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max displays, 34 million Apple Watch displays, 10 million iPhone Fold displays, and just 2 million iPad Mini displays.

The linked article doesn’t specifically say this, but these numbers look like orders for a whole year, which makes that 2 million number even sadder for the iPad Mini.

Why So Few Orders?

I wish more people were excited about the OLED iPad Mini than Apple’s forecasts would seem to suggest. This one upgrade will knock out the single biggest gripe people have about the Mini, which is its outdated screen. As someone currently using the 11-inch iPad Pro as my daily driver, I plan on revisiting that decision once the Mini gets a display that’s actually acceptable for 2026.

Of course, there’s more to this upgrade than just the improved display technology. The next iPad Mini is rumored to include a more powerful A19 Pro chip, and strangely, a water-resistant design. When the iPad Mini (A17 Pro) came out, I made the argument that the improved hardware combined with the changes in iPadOS 26, essentially turned the iPad Mini into the fabled “iPad Mini Pro”. The addition of an OLED display makes this even more of a reality.

With the recent price increases, the current iPad Mini (A17 Pro) now starts at $599. If Apple follows its usual pattern, the upgrade to OLED will add at least $100 to that price, meaning the next iPad Mini is likely to start at $699, which is likely a contributor to depressed demand for the product.

There’s also the matter of the rumored foldable iPhone, which will supposedly have an inner screen that’s in the ballpark of the iPad Mini. There are more than a few people that think this makes the iPad Mini obsolete. My response is, and continues to be, the iPhone Fold is probably going to cost 3 times more than the iPad Mini. You’ll be able to buy an iPhone 17e and an OLED iPad Mini, and still have money left over compared to buying the iPhone Fold. So I don’t think that’s it.

The biggest reason for such low demand is likely just the gradual erosion of the small tablet market in general. As phones have continued to get bigger screens (not counting foldables here), most people don’t see the value in a second device that’s, on paper, about the same size as their phone, that doesn’t offer them anything meaningfully different.

Apple is generally pretty good at forecasting demand for its non-iPhone products, so if they think 2 million is all they’ll need for this first year, then they are probably correct. But I’d love it if both Apple and I were surprised and more people saw the value in an OLED display coming to this nearly perfect sized tablet.

Link: etnews