iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 Now Available for Pre-Order

[MentalFloss]

The only spec I consider when buying Apple products now is whether it is thinner. As long as it is Our Thinnest _______ Ever ! ! !, I buy.

Really. Promise.

Well, believe it or not, in a tablet, the question how thin and light it is, is actually incredibly important.

We have now reached a level that Star Trek predicted to be reached in 200 years. I'd go as far as calling that revolutionary.

 

[AppleScruff1]

I think there still would have been anger that there was no price drop given the old hardware, but yes, psychologically, offering the Mini 2 for $100 less alongside the nearly identical Mini 3 does exaggerate the difference. If they had ditched the Mini 2 and offered the Mini 3 at $349/$449/$549, do you think the reaction would have been better? Sure, it's "last year's hardware" but at a $50 price drop, plus Touch ID?

I think the reaction would have been much better in what you suggested. Personally I wouldn't even consider the Mini 3 when I can buy the Mini 2 for $100 less. I think it is a great buy for $299. I wouldn't spend $100 more to get no performance gains or a better display.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Not sure why people are so obsessed with iDevices having more ram. Its obviously not that important as far as improving performance so why worry. Does it work? Yes, Is it fast? yes, Does it allow you to perform all functions you expect to perform? yes.. Now why the hell is ram so important??? lol.. Do these people even understand what ram does? Sheesh

I was in your camp until I started noticing a lot of brief freezing and delays in graphic intensive apps. Maybe this is more GPU related but I believe its all shared RAM since the Ax chips are SOC.

 

[KPOM]

It looks like 64GB Space Gray is the popular model. Right now shipment estimates of both the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi+Cellular models have slipped to 4-6 days.

 

[AppleScruff1]

To me, that is similar to the discussion whether or not a RAM upgrade e.g. from 64GB to 128GB is worth what Apple is asking for it. In the end, the market will decide.

And the average consumer will not know the difference if it's not explained to them. If they want the new Mini, they'll buy it, in many cases not knowing there isn't much difference.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

In! iPad Air 2 64GB Wi-Fi arriving in 2 - 4 weekdays in Germany.

I ordered the same model, got an estimated delivery date of between October 22nd and the 27th. Guess I didn't need to hurry so much, since it'll be arriving at least 4 weeks before my fiancee's birthday (November 24th).

 

[Charlie81]

Ordered the Space Grey 64GB Wifi and 1-2 weeks delivery here in Hong Kong. Guess either everyone have gone out rioting or this doesn't have any resale value. I kinda bet on the latter lol.

Replacing my trusty iPad 4 and giving it to my pa who is still using an iPad 2.

 

[unfeomateo]

Ordered the SG 64GB

Available to ship: 2-4 business days
Delivers: Oct 22 - Oct 24 by Standard Shipping


Sure hope I get it on the 22nd.

 

[KPOM]

I was in your camp until I started noticing a lot of brief freezing and delays in graphic intensive apps. Maybe this is more GPU related but I believe its all shared RAM since the Ax chips are SOC.

Maybe that's why they added the A8X to the iPad Air. We'll find out next week once iFixit does a teardown and/or a GeekBench result is posted. Since they didn't increase the resolution, and the A8 (and A7 for that matter) are more than capable of handling the resolution for basic tasks, they must have had a reason for producing a separate A8X for the iPad Air 2. Presumably it will go into the 12.9" device if there is one

 

[Aluminum213]

My guess is next Thursday or Friday (maybe Wednesday if we're lucky). The delivery estimate for my iPad Air 2 64GB WiFi+Cellular (ordered about 5 minutes after the store went back up) is October 23-27th.

It's say 2-4 business days, so Thursday at the latest?

 

[Scrapula]

Gold 64GB with WiFi + Cellular to replace my 4th generation iPad.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

You actually bought a Mini3?

yup, perfect size for me while commuting in crowded trains every day. Just need more memory for all music and books and whatever else I have stored on it. And the Touch ID is a nice plus which help in the trains to unlock the device.

The performance is absolute sufficient for me.

 

[KPOM]

I think the reaction would have been much better in what you suggested. Personally I wouldn't even consider the Mini 3 when I can buy the Mini 2 for $100 less. I think it is a great buy for $299. I wouldn't spend $100 more to get no performance gains or a better display.

Agreed. As I think about it further, I'm surprised they didn't do what I suggested, leaving the original iPad mini around for $249, which would have encouraged upsales to the significantly better iPad mini 3 at $349.

Maybe their marketing research told them that they're better off selling a mix of $299 iPad mini 2s and $399 iPad mini 3s rather than just a $349 iPad mini 3.

 

[scott911]

128GB Air 2. Had one of EVERY model since the first. Why end the streak now?

Non-reflective screen is enough for me. (But might return if it turns out to only be 1GB RAM.)

why buy if apple doesn't deserve it?

 

[KPOM]

It's say 2-4 business days, so Thursday at the latest?

Business days=Monday-Friday. Plus, that's the shipment date, not the delivery date. So I'm guessing that mine will ship Tuesday and arrive Thursday, though Apple has given themselves cushion to ship Thursday and have it arrive next Monday.

 

[beany boy]

Went to my local Apple Store and purchased a iPad Air 64gb for $499.

 

[Mike MA]

this is worth a $100 premium??????????

There is no premium, only a discount on last years model.

 

[sransari]

I really don't understand Apple sometimes...why in the HECK would they figure ppl are going to be willing to pay $100 extra JUST for Touch ID...??

 

[AppleScruff1]

I really don't understand Apple sometimes...why in the HECK would they figure ppl are going to be willing to pay $100 extra JUST for Touch ID...??

I think that a lot of people won't know about the differences. Some will buy due to the lower price, others will want the newest model, even if it hasn't changed much.

 

[KALLT]

There is no premium, only a discount on last years model.

Depends on your view. If it’s technically the same product with some minor additions, it’s equally legitimate to call Touch ID a premium, if that’s the only addition. You could even say that the price of the iPad Mini 2 isn’t actually a discount, it’s the list price.

 

[lewisd25]

But if I were Apple I would worry about next year. I think with the Air2 Apple has hit a plateau. I do not think they will be able to do much to make the next model much better.

There is so much more that can be done for the iPad Air 3...

Physical redesign (even thinner...5.5mm?)
Retina HD+ resolution (5K?)
built-in digitizer for accurate stylus usage
3GB of RAM
multitasking
multiple user accounts

 

[BruiserB]

Did a 128GB Ipad mini 2 ever exist? I'm trying to see how much it dropped on Apple's website but it's not there

It did, but it's been dropped now. You can still get one in the refurbished store for $439. At only $40 more than a mini 3 16GB, it's a steal!

 

[dannyyankou]

That’s the joke, so does the iPad Mini 3. ;-)

Oh, I thought they were saying the iPad mini 3 was the same as iPad Air 2 except smaller. Misinterpreted.

 

[heeloliver]

need to convince my dad to upgrade his iPad 2 to the iPad Air 2. He's starting to complain about the lag, especially after 8.0.

 

[jim2011]

Best Buy doesn't have the LTE models up for preorder. I want to use my discover card/shopdiscover to get 10% back. What to do?