Look through the recently announced iPad Mini 8’s specs and you’ll see that the pint-sized tablet sports an Acoustic Display.

But what is an Apple Acoustic Display and what does it do? Is it really that much different from other speaker systems?

We explain all we know about the iPad Mini 8’s Acoustic Display below. For more on the latest launch, visit our iPad Mini 8 vs iPad Mini 7 guide as we’ve highlighted the key differences between the two.

Finally, our round-up of the best tablets reveals our favourite and top-rated models from the past year or so.

What is an Acoustic Display?

Apple’s new Acoustic Display should enable the iPad Mini 8 to offer a better overall audio experience when gaming, watching videos or editing content. 

The brand explains that the iPad Mini has specially designed woofers that are paired through its display for “punchier bass” and “more volume” too, while there are custom tweeters that are hidden between the glass and aluminium enclosure for “clearer highs” too.

Essentially, Acoustic Display enables the iPad Mini to channel its audio through its display rather than more traditional speakers. That means the new iPad Mini doesn’t have speaker grilles or open speaker holes and features a sealed enclosure instead. With this, the iPad Mini 8 is able to achieve an IP67 rating, unlike the iPad Mini 8. 

Which devices have an Acoustic Display?

Apple has only stated that the iPad Mini 8 is fitted with an Acoustic Display, however its recently launched HomeView also sports similar technology. Like the iPad Mini 8, the HomeView has speaker components within its display to “keep everything sounding crisp”. The difference here is the HomeView display has two full-range drivers while the iPad Mini has woofers instead. 

The HomeView also has a down-firing woofer and two force-cancelling passive radiators built into its base to help enhance the bass levels too.

The new iPad Mini sees quite a few display upgrades from its predecessor. Alongside its Acoustic Display, the iPad Mini 8 has an OLED panel while the larger 256GB and 512GB iterations benefit from a nano-texture display option too. However, even though there are clear upgrades, it’s worth noting that the new iPad Mini 8 still doesn’t see Apple’s ProMotion technology, which means it only supports a 60Hz refresh rate.