iPad mini Elephant in the room - iPad Mini 3 is a huge disappointment

Yeah, I have to agree, I'm a little bummed about this particular update.

I was looking to get one, but for the price and especially the storage options available, I'm not sure if I will go for one. I may just get another Mini 2 in Space Gray, 32GB and save a bunch of money.

Check out the hands-on pictures at any tech blog and you'll see it has the same washed out display carried over again this year. Really sucks they didn't address that.

I wasn't sure between the iPad mini 3 and the Air 2 but now I know to get the iPad Air 2 64GB with an A8X CPU and touchID

It's an elephant all right, but everyone is shouting about it.

Believe me, I am extremely disappointed. I was looking for any reason to upgrade just so I can hand off my rMini to my mother so she can use it. But now... there is no chance I'm paying an extra hundred for just Touch ID. Not even the new chip? No slight trimming to the size and weight?

Abysmal. This is likely one of the worst product "refreshes" Apple has ever done, especially for the price.

Is the wifi and FaceTime camera even any different? Last I looked, I couldn't find a single differences except gold and Touch ID...

Last year, the main differentiator between the mini and the Air was size. I'm guessing margins were worse for the mini based on the lower selling price. It seems like Apple decided to increase margins on the mini by using older components, while making the Air more appealing based on technical specifications.

I am surpried too. (Makes it an easier decision, however). I really wonder if their marketers are feeling the iPhone 6 Plus is the next mini.

Cool Pup said:

It's an elephant all right, but everyone is shouting about it.

Believe me, I am extremely disappointed. I was looking for any reason to upgrade just so I can hand off my rMini to my mother so she can use it. But now... there is no chance I'm paying an extra hundred for just Touch ID. Not even the new chip? No slight trimming to the size and weight?

Abysmal. This is likely one of the worst product "refreshes" Apple has ever done, especially for the price.

Is the wifi and FaceTime camera even any different? Last I looked, I couldn't find a single differences except gold and Touch ID...

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I am MAD. I was looking to do the exact same thing, upgrade my iPad mini with retina so I could have consistency, an A8 phone and an A8 tablet, also, both having Touch ID and good colors in the display. I was going to upgrade to this and give my mom my iPad mini, she asks to use it a lot because her iPhone 5 is too small now that she sees this big tablet.

But now, Apple crapped on the iPad mini. Again. Didn't they JUST say at last years event which introduced the iPad air and iPad mini with Retina Display that you shouldn't have to compromise anything if you want a portable tablet?? Nice switch to the dark side, Apple.

Also, I'm a bit annoyed they did away with the side switch just to do away with some extra thickness. Now they are taking MORE things away from us just to be a little thinner, OIS and the bigger battery was taken from the iPhone 6, and now the side switch. I love having the side switch on my retina mini. I know that is a very frivolous thing to get annoyed about but really?

It looks like next year we could expect huge Mini update while apple trying break pattern and increase span for 2 years between models. Also as we know mini cannibalized big brother sales, so it makes perfect sense for selling strategy.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong and they just fock up with Mini 3.

rkuo said:

Seriously, let's just say it. Look at the facts.

No Change
- A7 processor, no A8
- Presumably still 1GB of RAM.
- No mention of display improvements (especially color gamut).
- No form factor or weight improvements.

Upgrades
- Touch ID (not particularly useful on a tablet)
- Faster Wifi (nobody transfers huge files on a tablet)
- FaceTime camera (nice but not important most of the time. I'm not even sure this is an update, apparently they just stuck this on the slide because they didn't have enough real upgrade to fill it in with)

On top of all that, the iPad Mini 2 hits the 299 price point. It's basically the same tablet for 100 dollars less.

I love my iPad Mini 2, and it looks like it was a great buy one year ago, because the new iPad Mini 3 is essentially the same tablet.

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It's working as intended. Get an iPhone 6+.

I think it was about margins like someone said above. Selling it for $100 less with identical specs to the Air was cutting deeper than they would have liked.

Uh, the specs list don't indicate wifi or camera updates either...

Is it a disappointment? Yes. But the bigger news I take out of this is that I can get the Mini 2 for $299. That model is going to be their biggest seller of all the Minis this year.

Actually not faster wifi same as before. No AC.

At first I thought the Mini 3 was a scam , but as long as the mini 2 is being sold I'm happy. If the kept the Mini 1 and discontinued the Mini 2, that would have been a huge disappointment.

Every time I see Mini 3, I will think to myself WOW they paid 100$ for nothing!!

They can't phase the product out because it has 100% customer satisfaction but its eating into their bottom line so...

Keep its internals a generation or two behind but maintain price point. Job done.

cfedu said:

Every time I see Mini 3, I will think to myself WOW they paid 100$ for nothing!!

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Except for those upgrading from the first gen mini, you mean.

More 3rd generation ipad blues. Not making that mistake again. Was looking to go back to the larger ipad anyways.

Ferc Kast said:

Except for those upgrading from the first gen mini, you mean.

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No then too, save the 100$ with a mini 2

I agree with all of you, however this just made the iPad Mini 2 a complete bargain! That said, I will continue to use my Mini 1.

This is how it would have been anyway if they didn't even them out last time. Maybe they just wanted the mini to be 64-bit. This is a horrible upgrade though, it is identical except for the Touch ID and the option to choose Gold. You're paying at least $100 for Touch ID only.

The iPad Mini 2 is clearly the best buy in the group, being nearly identical to the mini 3 for 100 dollars less, and with a chip two generations ahead of the original iPad Mini. (For only 50 dollars more).

It's funny how the upgrade between the original and mini 2 is much bigger and for only 50 dollars, while there is next to no difference with the 2 and 3, and at double that at 100 dollars.

-1st I really can't see that Apple is taking a loss or has smaller margins on this. Remember when the Mini came out AFTER the Nexus 7 and all the flack over the mini being LESS in display and MORE in price?

How is it that another company can make basically the same thing MUCH cheaper with the only difference being the OS?

This is the same thing as the Hackintosh vs Mac... You can buy all the parts in a Mac and run OSX for MUCH less than what Apple charges.

I call BS on the margin argument.

- 2nd The net cost of a new chip vs an older chip --- The cost is higher for the new chip, but they are using the new chip in the Air2 and the cost between the Air vs Air2 is what? $100. Not to mention the screen, camera, touchID and other things.

Think about that... What did the Air2 get for $100... what did the Mini3 get for $100

Another issue is the cost of an old chip, it would cost you almost the same to go back and make an 8088 vs 80826 processor, so why make the 8088 processor...

The rMini NEVER went on sale. Last year I watch ads for Target and others, the rMini NEVER went on sale.

I found a sale where I could get the Air1 for only about $30 more than the rMini2... WTF is that?

Conclusion: Either Apple can't figure out how to get good pricing on it parts like Samsung, Nexus, ... Or they are directing their customers where they want them.

Either way... FAIL, they need to get back to giving the customers what they want or they can kiss more of their tablet market good by.

BTW, yea, I'm pissed.

KarlJay said:

-1st I really can't see that Apple is taking a loss or has smaller margins on this. Remember when the Mini came out AFTER the Nexus 7 and all the flack over the mini being LESS in display and MORE in price?

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I can't compare my Nexus 7 to an iPad since I've never owned an iPad. The screen on Nexus 7 after a year of use doesn't look very good. It had a little backlight bleed from the start and it's gotten worse.

KarlJay said:

- 2nd The net cost of a new chip vs an older chip --- The cost is higher for the new chip, but they are using the new chip in the Air2 and the cost between the Air vs Air2 is what? $100. Not to mention the screen, camera, touchID and other things.

Think about that... What did the Air2 get for $100... what did the Mini3 get for $100

Click to expand...

TouchID. That's all it got...lol.

KarlJay said:

Either way... FAIL, they need to get back to giving the customers what they want or they can kiss more of their tablet market good by.

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I think it still takes Apple way too long to give us what we want. It only took years for a larger iPhone.

KarlJay said:

BTW, yea, I'm pissed.

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I was pissed initially also. The best revenge is not to buy this junk and tell everyone you know not to buy it either.

Screw apple. They won't be getting my extra $100. I'll opt for a refurb 2nd gen mini 64gb. Seriously wtf...

It's a marketing strategy -- show people options that are less attractive than the one they really want you to take.

In this case, they barely touch the iPad Mini this revision, with the hope that many people will upgrade to the Air 2 for more features/functionality. They're also able to continue using older parts for the new Mini 3, increasing its revenue margins (which were somewhat low from what I had heard).

You can already tell it's working -- some folks will hold true to the mantra of "no upgrade, no purchase", but others are saying "well, crap, I guess I have to get the Air 2 now".